week 2

so going back a bit...Christchurch was pretty amazing.



seeing the southern alps in the distance reminded me of home which helped ease the stress of several long flights.



they have a little river there called avon and i really wanted to go punting, but i completely spaced it out. i will be doing it when i redeploy in feb/march. ill also do the lord of the rings tour, however dorky that may seem.



i live here now. it still amazes me every single day. this is the 'southern' tip of ross island, and island that is bigger than the last state i lived in (RI) and has upwards of 1,500 people and 500,000 penguins (no we do not eat them, nor will i likely see one).



tonight i will be visiting the kiwi base again, scott base, which is about 3.6 miles away if they lift condition 2*. they currently have 27 people on station and will max out at 350 during the summer. i went there last thursday for American night and had a blast. their gift shop hadnt be replenished, and kiwis are not as fat as Americans, so their sizes in clothing were small. im hoping to pick up some good swag while im there as well as kick some butt in darts. last week i beat my friend/employee kieffer in two games of cricket, and then on saturday at gallaghers (one of the McMurdo bars). although their station is small, its fairly new and pretty nice, plus they take credit cards and US money in the gift shop and at the bar. i love kiwis!

*the weather here has three conditions: condition 3 is normal antarctican weather (good visibility and low winds), condition 2 is pretty crappy (low visibility, pretty windy and -75 F to -99 F with the windchill and travel is restricted to only going from buildings within the station); condition 1 is horrible with almost no visibility, temps colder than -100 F and leaving any building is prohibited.

denver, LA, sydney, christchurch

(please excuse my spelling and writing issues - i am still a bit off from the flight and time difference)

so i have finally arrived in new zealand! i was lucky enough to get isle seats on all of the flight down here, so that made the long trek so much better for me.

if you dont already know, i have a terrible fear of flying. traveling this far on three flights was not something i was looking forward to. however, all of the flights were pretty good, especially the qanats flight from LA to sydney.

denver to LA was a bit bumpy getting over the rockies, but it was smooth after that. when we arrived we had a 4.5 hour layover in the international terminal. since there are so many of us going in for winfly we were able to keep ourselves entertained.

the flight to sydney was about 14 hours and was pretty wobbly, somewhat like a train ride on old rails. qantas offered us dinner then a snack pack and some socks for comfort. we also had our on tv screen to watch movies and tv shows on demand - there was enough material to watch for a month! at some point we had breakfast and they also gave us hot towels to help ourselfves get refreshed.

the flight to christchurch was totally smooth until it was time to land, and that was not fun at all. it was horribly turbulent, but it was a quick landing, so i didnt have time to freak out.

after landing the USAP (United States Antarctic Program) had shuttle drivers available for us and they delivered us to our respective hotels. i am staying at the hotel SO. pretty modern - it took me 5 minutes to figure out how to turn the lights on...

unfortunately i took a 4 hour nap that screwed up my sleep schedule. i ended up staying awake until 11 pm and woke up at 4 am kiwi time.

last night i went to dinner at strawberry fare and had a delicious duck confit. i forgot my camera since i was so out of it, but i do promise to get some pictures soon.

the kiwis are VERY nice. i cant wait to explore this country more after i return in march.

now i am off to the CDC (Clothing Distribution Center) to pick up my uniforms and ECW (Extreme Cold Weather) gear. i also have to resubmit my laptop for inspection since i didnt already have an anti-virus program installed.