delayed

yesterday all of winfly was supposed to leave the hotels for the CDC at 3:15 am, but we got a call at 2:45 am saying that our flight was delayed due to weather. we later found out that there was a storm at mcmurdo with 100+ mph winds!

at 8 am we took off for the travel office to pick up our per diem and shuttle vouchers. around noon i took off with a few other NANA employees for "burgers, bowling and beer" and had a blast!

i am still adjusting to the time difference (+18 hours) so i took a nap. for dinner i went out with three of the chefs and a RSPC contractor to the most amazing place for dinner, Annie's Wine Bar http://www.annieswinebar.co.nz/ . it was slightly outside of the city center and in the courtyard of what looked like hogwarts - so beautiful and striking. walking inside i was blown away! the dining room was warm and cozy and the staff was super friendly.

right before we ordered i saw another NANA employee come in and sit alone. i expect that on the ice we will all be one big family, so i invited him over to have dinner with us which turned out to be great since we all got to hear his interesting story of being a rappelling fireman for the US dept of forestry. one of the great things about this adventure is getting to meet so many interesting people who come from every state in the union and all walks of life. since what we are doing isnt the most usual of things, we each have our own unique story as to how we came across this opportunity and why we want to do it.

anywho, on to dinner...

their wine book had the labels with hand written notes instead of a simple typed out price list. this was really handy and so much better to made a decision with since i had never eaten there before. we all shared a bowl of new zealand green lipped mussels in a tomato/chipotle/cilantro sauce that was simply divine and sopped up the sauce with some slices of rye bread made fresh on-site. i ended up with their goat cheese & artichoke homemade ravioli which was set atop a manuka smoked tomato finished with lemon cream sauce and toasted pistachios. the manuka is a type of bush that grows here which is highly scented and imbued a nice flavor into the tomatoes. i thought the cream sauce was going to be heavy, but it was very light and refreshing. the pasta was perfectly tender, these were seriously the best ravioli's i have ever had - ever.

after dinner (and some great conversation) we walked back into the city center to our respective hotels. i decided to get to bed early since we had to be out for a 3 am shuttle. however, at 2:45 am i received another call that our flight was delayed for another 24 hours.

its 4:30 am right now and after i get some more sleep i am going to go out to the local wildlife sanctuary and feed some of the unique animals of this region. i might also head to the beach, which i hear is breathtaking!