Civilization

The next morning in NZ, I got up at 8am (after going to sleep at 3:30am) and found out that I had no flight and would be kicked out of my hotel room at 11. I got a hold of the right people who put me on the next plane out (today!) and moved my stuff into Zak's room (they book us into rooms with 2 queen beds for some reason). After about 11:30 we all met up and went out to get some food. We were hoping to go to Burgers and Beers but they were still closed from the earthquake. Further down the block was C1 coffee shop. It will take me too long to describe how awesome this place was, but let me sum it up with this: Instead of the normal male and female bathroom signs, they had framed Han Solo and Princess Leia action figures and the water was dispensed out of a 1920's sewing machine. Really really cool place. We started with lunch and Chemix coffee (where you brew it slowly at your table) and slowly moved on to beers. The beers were actually quite good for a change. They were local and actually had more than 4% alcohol and hops that you could taste! We were there for I think 5 hours sitting out in the sun and chatting. Eventually we moved on and got some dinner at the awesome indian restaurant in town. The food was quite good. One of the guys made the mistake of ordering his food "spicy" which was not "American spicy," it was painfully spicy. Quite delicious.

I'm heading out to the airport in 10 minutes and should be home in about 20 hours. Hoooooray other side of the world...

More flight delays

The flight has been delayed until January 2nd at 7:30 pm so it's time to rent a car and tour the countryside. We're thinking of driving up the coast to Kaikoura and then trying to get to Nelson or even further into the fjords. It's supposed to be gorgeous there. I didn't get a chance to see it last year, so I'm very excited.

We were originally planning on going to a cricket match today but ended up deciding to just grab a big dinner and get some rest. Most of us were fairly hung over all day and since we will be doing a lot of driving/hiking early tomorrow morning, we decided it would be best to go to bed. We ate at an indian restaurant downtown that was absolutely phenomenal. There were actually a lot of Indian people eating there, so you know it had to be good. When I ordered a dish as spicy, it actually came out spicy, not white-man spicy. After a few bites, we were all sweating and our noses were starting to run--the good stuff. Had a couple of local organic pilsners. They were actually pretty good unlike most of the NZ beers I've had.

That's all for now. In the next couple of days, I'll expect to take some breathtaking pictures. I can't wait! Middle Earth, here we come!

Flight Delays lead to Hangovers

After the flight was delayed 24 hours, my group and I went off to the Bard upon Avon which is a nice english pub style bar near the hotels to discuss our plans for the following day over some beers. I remembered that there was a cricket match between NZ and Pakistan today and suggested we check it out. The match is at 7pm and hopefully we can get tickets. With our plan set, we were able to focus on our beers. The bar had a girl singing and playing guitar. Before playing a cover, she would describe the artist saying that "I don't know if you've heard of them" but it would be by someone common in the US. Apparently, the only artists that make it to New Zealand are Dido and Brian Adams. She was good, though and we were all enjoying the live music. The bar finally kicked us out around midnight so we went to Sol Square where we could continue drinking. There was a little bar called Cartel that I remember going to last year that had a DJ and a very chill atmosphere. We grabbed some more drinks and the next thing I knew, it was 5am.

I begrudgingly got out of bed this morning at around 10:30 and after video chatting with Sara got some food. I went to one of the restaurants in the hotel and had a salmon and cream cheese sandwich. I asked if they had bagels and the server laughed. I have no idea what was funny... apparently there aren't many jews in NZ.

Now I'm sitting in the lounge at the Windsor waiting for the rest of my group to show. I've seen 2 others so far.

My hangover isn't so bad, thanks in part to New Zealand's weak beer.

Flight Delayed...

Had a great day in New Zealand today... fairly laid back. Being a server in NZ must be the easiest job in the world--you don't tip, and the people are too nice to complain. Our lunch lasted about 3 hours--dinner almost the same.

I read in the paper today that Maria Sharapova landed in NZ yesterday on a flight from LA, so she must have been on my flight.

Went to the CDC (Clothing Distribution Center) today and got all my ECW gear. Since I've done this before, I knew exactly what I needed and how it should fit.

When I got back to the hotel, I found out that the flight was delayed 24 hours so now we're deciding on what to do. We're thinking of taking a day trip to either the Alps or Akaroa. My vote is for the alps since the last time I went, the weather was terrible.

The flight is at 7am, meaning I would have to be at the CDC at 4:30am, which puts my wakeup time at 3:30am--so I'm happy I don't have to do it tomorrow.

Day 1 in New Zealand

At the hotel, I grabbed a snack and a beer at the bar and then went to the Windsor to meet Zak and Grant. We went to the Dux de Lux nearby for some great food and beer. It's a microbrewery which means its beer is slightly better than normal New Zealand beer. I had the green-lipped mussels (which were enormous) and their pale ale and bitter. The beers were good, the mussels were amazing.





We then wanted to go to this japanese place across town but when we arrived there, it was closed. Yesterday was New Zealand's boxing day and combined with the earthquake a couple of days ago, a lot of business were closed. We ended up going to this british nearby where I got another new zealand beer and some appetizers. The onion rings were good but the bread and dips was terrible. The dips were almost unrecognizable versions of normal dips--a pesto, a hummus, and a sun-dried tomato, but were just awful. After this we wandered around the city. We could see the destruction from the earthquake. New Zealand has very strict building standards so the damage was minimal but still visible--cracked windows and facades, some buildings even looked partially demolished. Pic below:

Arrived in Christchurch!

I'm in New Zealand. The weather is terrible. It's cold, rainy, and veeeery windy. The flights were ok. The first flight from LAX to Auckland was about 13 hours long. I watched 3 movies and then closed my eyes and pretending I was asleep for about 5 hours. The meal was served while I was watching Inception so I spent the last 40 minutes of the movie trying not to vomit. Not the best part of my flight. After my nausea subsided, I watched Dinner For Schmucks. I understand that this movie is usually watched to induce nausea, but I took my chances of a double-negative effect. I liked it. It had more of a plot than I was expecting. Finally, I watched The Other Guys with Marky Mark. It was also surprisingly good. Once the flight landed in Auckland, I had to go through customs. New Zealand has very tight customs restrictions pertaining to food. If you bring food in, you get fined $400. They also check your hiking shoes to make sure that you don't have dog crap on them. The flight from Auckland to Christchurch was about an hour and very turbulent. There were a lot of younger people on the flights and they wouldn't shut up. It's no wonder why everybody hates American travelers.

Finally, my team and I took a quick stop-off at the Clothing Distribution Center to drop off some equipment that we hand carried on the planes and then went to our hotels. I decided to stay in a real hotel this year, right near downtown. Christchurch is small, so that only saves me ~5 blocks of walking, but I'm mostly excited to stay in a hotel with a restaurant, bar, gym, and private bathrooms. I don't know why everyone doesn't do this! I only get 2 hours of internet access a day here, so I may not have time to post pictures, but this place looks like a 5 star hotel from the late 70s that hasn't changed since the BeeGees.

The Hotel is the Crowne Plaza and I'm in room 607 if you want to make a very expensive call to harass me.

Going Home

I'm set to leave the pole today at around 12:30 which should put me in McMurdo before 4. I don't know yet when my flight is supposed to leave from McMurdo, but supposedly I get into Christchurch at 3:30 am. So I have a night in McMurdo, then no nights in christchurch, which is ridiculous. So I'm not supposed to sleep on my trip back? I think I fly from Christchurch to Auckland which is probably about a 1.5 hr flight and then from Auckland to LAX, which is probably something like 15 hours. Hopefully I'll get some sleep on the plane.

I'm really excited to go home. I can't wait! Of course, I start traveling today, and get home in 3 days. That's nuts.

Another delay

Not sure exactly why, but now my flight has been delayed until tuesday. There was a new group that came in yesterday, so I imagine some of them have priority on the monday flight.

Last night after the nature cruise, we all went out for dinner at this place called beer and burgers. It was very very cool. The logo was a black and white 1950's style school-girl vampire eating a burger. Really kitschey. They had posters on the walls of cartoons that would say "don't fight! Eat a burger" and would have one frame with two people fighting, and then the next frame would be the two people in the same position but with burgers in their hands. Had the same for "don't drink and drive! Have a burger" but with one of the patrons up in a tree. Very cool restaurant. Good food and good beer. We then went to Bailies for more drinks. It's right in Cathedral square and was full of usap people. There was also a soccer game on tv with NZ vs Bahrain. NZ won, but their team looked like shit. Got good and drunk, then went home and had a nice sleep! I like new zealanders. The innkeeper made an announcement that breakfast would be closing instead of just closing it. That allowed me to get up, throw some pants on, and get a decent breakfast.

After that, I went for a run in the park and did a quick workout. I think Phil rented a car, so we may take a longer excursion today. Hopefully, we'll be able to get into the mountains!

"stuck" in new zealand for the weekend

Due to weather, the flight this morning was cancelled. I don't think they fly on sundays, so that means I'm here til monday. The plan for today is to go to Akaroa which is further south than Lyttleton on the volcanic crater, where we'll hire a boat to take us out dolphin watching. Yep. New Zealand kicks ass.

Last night we just went to the Dux de Lux for dinner and drinks. Food was good. They serve all vegetarian, and fish. I got the seafood jumbalaya. It had squid and shrimp as well as local mussels, which were great, and a huge prawn. The beer was good, but I've already talked about that

Hiking in NZ

Today, I decided that I was going to find a place to go hiking. I found that there is a city nestled in an old volcanic crater called Lyttleton, so I took the bus to the Christchurch Gondola and hiked up to the summit with Rashmi and Phil. The weather was beyond shit. It was cold, rainy, sleeting, EXTREMELY windy, and beautiful! Once we got to the top, we went into the Gondola center. There I had a well deserved beer. We sat for some time until the weather broke. There were amazing panoramic views of new zealand. Lyttleton was really pretty. It was nestled at the base of this harbor which must have been an old volcano. I've posted a good shot of the area. It was taken at around a mile up.

We hiked down the other side into Lyttleton. It was a city made up mostly of bars, coffee shops, and restaurants. It was really dead, but kind of neat. My bandwidth is really limited right now, so I can't upload any of the pics that I want. I'll upload them later.

Arrived in New Zealand

And they gave us popsicles on the plane! They're so friendly!

The flight from LAX to Sydney went well. I was on a boeing 747-400. Big plane. Double decker, but no A380. Saw a few of those parked at the airport. Those are huuuuge. The meal was pretty good, the service was very friendly. About a 15 hour flight. Really wasn't so bad. Everything was free and you had a personal entertainment system with on-demand new movies. I watched Hurt Locker and Terminator: Salvation. Hurt locker was really good. Terminator was ok, but I was pretty tired when I watched that. Not sure if I slept. I took some sleeping aids and closed my eyes, but I really can't sleep on the plane. I can't believe I was in Australia this morning.

The flight to Christchurch (kosher city) was about 2.5 hours and was very smooth. We got popsicles. Lunch was really good. They served a red chicken curry which tasted great. Flying into new zealand was quite a site. Out of the ocean rose these enormous snow-covered mountains which end suddenly into flatness before falling back into the sea.

Tomorrow I have my clothing fitting tomorrow at 13:00 and find out when my flight to Antarctica is.

I can't wait to explore the city!