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...

Hiking in Marlborough Sound

Two days ago, we were in Picton, which is about 5 hours up and around the coast of the southern island from Christchurch. We arrived at around 10:30 on new year's eve and watched the fireworks. The next morning, we went to Le Cafe a few blocks away and had breakfast. It was very good. At about 1:30, we went to the docks and hired a boat to take us out into the sound and drop us off somewhere out on the remote parts of the peninsula and then pick us up at a spot about 4 hours away. The boat ride was long and gorgeous. We were on it for about an hour and a half and the scenery was breathtaking. Eventually we arrived at Ship's Cove where we started our hike. About 2 minutes in, we saw our first animal. It's called a Weka and is about the size of a chicken. It's a flightless bird that is only lives in the area where we were hiking. It was very different.



Half an hour later, we were almost run off the path by an errant cow. It must have lost it's way from one of the farms and found the trail. It was a strange experience.

As we hiked, we came across spectacular views, as well as remote farms--some of which we had to walk between sheep and chicken to get past. The views were just amazing. At one point, you could look into the sound and turn around and look into Cook's straight (in between the North and South Islands) and if you stared hard enough, you could just see the tip of the north island.



Occasionally, we would stop and snack while Wekas waited anxiously for us to drop any food. Eventually we reached our destination (Furnaux campgrounds) which had a pier. As we were waiting, we waded in the water. The water was surprisingly warm and very clear. We spoke with some people who had boated in from Wellington (on the north island) for vacation (or holiday). They were diving for Crays (which are essentially rock lobsters) and were all around enjoying themselves. Eventually, our boat arrived and we started heading back. Marlborough is wine country here in New Zealand so we decided to split a bottle of wine on the boat (they had a makeshift bar on the boat where we could buy wine). As we rode back to Picton (about an hour of a ride) the sun was starting to set. As we passed boats and ferries, wine in hand, it was easy to get lost in the beauty. New Zealand has such an incredibly beautiful and diverse landscape.



One we disembarked, we went back to our respective hotel rooms showered and changed and met back up at Le Cafe for a late dinner (it was about 10pm by this point). I had my first (and probably last) NZ grass fed, free range Angus beef steak. It was beyond delicious. New Zealand is small enough that they don't need to torture their meat to feed their people. You can feel much better about eating animals here. You drive by their pastures all day and they're munching on grass with acres (or hectares) of room to run around. Many of the cafe's even have all organic/local food.

Our goal was to drive back in the morning in time to return the rental car and catch our flight southbound but since the flight was delayed we were able to have a nice breakfast before driving straight back to Christchurch. Once we checked back into our hotels we pretty much just rested. I think I've come down with a cold (Grant had one and most likely gave it to me) so a little rest is nice. Our flight is supposed to leave later today but who knows...

One Very Long and Interesting day

I don't even know where to begin...

Well, both the New Zealand and the Pakistani cricket teams ended up staying in my hotel last night and both teams came down for breakfast at the same time. It was awkward since Pakistan beat the crap out of New Zealand. One of the New Zealand players at the table next to me was reading a newspaper that had a giant picture of the team with a headline to the effect of "embarrassment." It was pretty funny. All the Pakistani players were all wearing matching button-up shirts and khakis and looked clean cut whereas all the NZ players looked like they just woke up and rolled out of bed.

After breakfast Zak and I went to rent a car. We hopped on a shuttle to the airport where there was a nice dutch family and we struck up a conversation. On the way, I saw a 1969 mustang on the road. It was an American import, not one designed for Australia/NZ--so not that exciting, but still cool to see.



Once we got the car, we headed north up the coast to Kaikoura, about a 3 hour drive. The drive was beautiful, right in between the mountains and the ocean but the town was kind of touristy and boring. We ate a terrible lunch at this horrible restaurant that nearly made us all sick and then got on a boat to go whale watching. The boat was expensive, at $145 NZ, but I don't know the next time I'll have the opportunity. We rode for about 20 minutes and then spotted a large Sperm Whale. It was actually sleeping when we came upon it (not that it would have looked much different awake). It was impressive to see. We got within maybe 40 feet of it. After hovering there for a while, we went to an area to see some Dusky dolphins. There were about 300 of them and they were all jumping very high into the air--some in synchronized packs of 4 or 5! It was very cool. We got so close that we could reach out of the boat and touch them.






Since the town was kind of a huge let-down, we decided to keep moving up the coast on to Picton, about 2 hours away. We arrived shortly after sunset and there was already a new year's party in full swing (remember that we are across the international dateline here so we're a day ahead--essentially I'm writing this from the future). We found a hotel with a vacancy and then set out for some food. Our appetites, mostly destroyed from the terrible lunch (I'm queasy just thinking about it now) were now starting to return (at 10:30pm) and we found an Indian restaurant that was open. The food was decent and we ate with great fervor. We then went to the harbor where there was a live band and had a couple of beers. At the new year, there were fireworks over the harbor. They were okay, but could have used a lesson in showmanship from SeaWorld or Disneyland. Afterwards, we all went back to the hotel to get some sleep for the day ahead.

We woke up this morning and chartered a boat to take us to the end of Marlborough sound so we can go hiking. This is supposed to be one of the 10 best hikes in the world! We're leaving at 1:30 and the boat will pick us back up at around 6 or so. I'm excited for the boat ride since we'll be riding through some very interesting features. It looks somewhat like the pacific northwest here in Picton, but with more dramatic features. I'm very impressed with this city so far. It's very clean and the views are spectacular. All the restaurants and bars seem to be more real and less touristy. Picton is where you can catch the ferry to the North Island, so it has a lot of visitors, but isn't set up like a crappy port town. We ate breakfast at a charming little cafe right by the water. I had scrambled eggs with smoked whitefish and a home-made bread. It was quite delicious. I'm very impressed with Picton. I would definitely come back here for vacation.

And yes, that's a picture of me driving on the wrong side.

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:

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!

More fun in New Zealand

Today after breakfast, Walt's father's friend (or friend's father) who lives nearby drove us all through Christchurch, down through Lyttelton, and into Akaroa, which is another port town in a volcanic crater. It took us about 2 hours to get there, but we took scenic drives. The town was mostly a tourist town, but not in a bad way. It wasn't a tourist trap, but its main income is from tourism. We took a nature cruise which was on a small boat out into the harbor. We saw the Hector dolphin which is only found in this part of the world. Saw maybe five of them. The would swim up to the boat and dive out of the water. One of them sat on the top of the waves and slapped its tail against the water a number of times. It definitely knew we were watching it. We then saw a bunch of Shag's and a couple of blue penguins. Then we moved to the mouth of the harbor, where the waves were huuuuuge! We were really tossed around for a while. It was a lot of fun! I wanted to keep doing it. Then we went to the other side of the harbor where there were fur seals. They were mostly laying around. A couple were swimming. Not quite in the numbers as the leopard seals in La Jolla, but still really cool. We then went cruising around the harbor looking at all the remnants of the volcano around us. It was very pretty.

One thing in new zealand, is that there are always sheep. Everywhere you look, you'll find sheep. Lots of cows, too which I hear is a recent occurrance.

My internet connection here is spotty, and uploading pics takes forever, so it's been hard to show my pictures, but I'll upload them once I get the chance, probably once I get to antarctica.

"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.

Flight to McMurdo Delayed 24 hours

At about 4 am last night, the B&B keeper went around informing us that the flight to McMurdo has been delayed. We're most likely to report to the USAP tomorrow at 6am. I'm pretty happy about this, as I got drunker than I was expecting last night. Went to the Dux de Lux which was a pretty kick-ass bar/microbrewery. I had their stout, which was nice and rich, their strong ale (which had some apricot in it, I think), their traditional NZ style lager, and then sampled some others. They had a ginger beer which was just awful. It tasted like a soda. Most of their beers are rated at 4%, so I made sure to inform them about the far superior Stone beers and their towering alcohol content. For dinner beforehand, I went to the Belgian Beer Bar and had a Gulden Draak with some lamb. The lamb was fantastic. It had such a great flavor to it, very rich and somewhat gamey, but very very good. Nice and tender as well. Things are somewhat expensive here. The lamb was 30 NZD (~24 USD) and the beer was 17 NZD (~14 USD).

After the 4am flight delay, I went back to sleep until 7:30 after which I had breakfast. After breakfast, the innkeeper brought out his 1928 Erskine around and took us all for a drive. We went to this old house that used to be some private mansion. It had some nice gardens a a stream that ran through it. Very cool. I've got some pictures of my behind the wheel that I'll post when I get the chance.

Today, I want to go into the hills and maybe get a hike in. I really want to get a good panorama of the city.

Extreme Cold Weather Gear

Had my fitting for the Extreme Cold Weather Gear. This was done at the US Antarctic Program's Clothing Distribution Center by the Airport. It was right next to a hands-on antarctic discovery center which I would love to go to some time. I hear they have penguins! The clothing was stuffed into 2 orange duffel bags. Of course, my bag was non-existent, but there was a bag for Jon D Kauffmann--doppelganger!!! They realized their mistake and threw together mine fairly quickly. The clothing issued were:
- 1x large red thick jacket with my name on it (removable tag)
- 1x Thick wind-pants/overalls
- 2x leather gloves w/ lining
- 1x leather mittens with seperate wool liners
- 1x pair of plastic looking white thermal boots
- 1x set of thermal underwear
- 1x set of fleece pants and jacket
- 1x lighter red outer jacket (in case the weather gets nice)
- 2x thick wool socks
- 1x balaclava (baklava???) or head/face covering
- 1x goggles
- 1x fleece cap
- 1x fleece turtle neck (just the neck part)
- 1x another pair of thicker fleece pants

I'll have pictures of it all on a little later.

And they gave me a flu shot.

My flight to Antarctica is supposed to be tomorrow at 9am and I will report to the USAP at 6 am. I've heard rumors that the weather is very bad right now in which case they may not fly out until Monday (keep in mind tomorrow is friday-- +1 day from all y'all), which would mean I would have the weekend in new zealand! In this case, I would try renting a car and driving around the country.

I'm meeting a few people from the program at 5:30 when we'll go grab dinner and drinks. Should be fun.

First Day in New Zealand

Went to dinner with Rashmi at the Bailey's in the city square. Had a moroccan chicken sandwich. It was pretty good. Had some New Zealand beer with it. It was a light pilsner, very refreshing, not much to it. Walked around Christchurch for a while. Nice city, but everything shuts down at 5 and they barely open on the weekends. It's just weird. Lots of sex shops too. That was mildly unexpected. Wacky Kiwis. Bought my standard New Zealand t-shirt with the All Blacks logo on it. Planned on taking a nap and then hitting the town, but I woke up from the nap at around 2 am and decided to just sleep through the night. Had a nice breakfast this morning at the hotel. They had a lot of fruit (tons of kiwis) and eggs and bacon (which was more like canadian bacon than the far superior american bacon) and sausage. I had Marmite, which was advertised as a yeast spread. It was a dark brown, almost molasses looking spread which tasted just about as bad as it smelled. It was bitter and sour and tasted like uncooked bitter dough. The waitress said it was to be eaten with margarine, so it's just a winning combination.

After breakfast, I went to the nearby botanical gardens which were fairly nice. It was funny, the most impressive trees were originally from california. Then I went to the museum right by the gardens. They had the history of the indigenous people, the Maori and the Moriari. They neglected to mention the slaughter of the non-violent Moriori by the aggressive and expansionist Maori. They had gems and meteors and mummies, and even a dinosaur or two. They also had a whole exhibit on antarctica and the early expeditions. It was cool. And it was all free!

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!

My itinerary

So I leave LAX on monday (the 9th) at 10:30 pm and arrive in Sydney, Australia at 9 am on the 11th. A nice leisurely 15 hour flight. I then leave from Sydney to Christchurch, New Zealand, where I'm pretty sure I'll be greeted by at least one of the Chonchords. Maybe Murray. From there, I have 2 days before I leave for antarctica. For starters, I have to get my Extreme Cold Weather (ECW) gear. I'm pretty sure it's sponsored by mountain dew. I have to get my computer checked for viruses/decepticons, and my arm poked with swine flu. I have one major goal in NZ: get drunk with kiwi's and listen to their funny accents. Insert obligatory Lord of the Rings comment here.

From NZ, I should be taking a C-17 to McMurdo station on the coast of antarctica, where I will be staying for the night. I'll then take an LC-130 giant prop cargo plane to the South Pole. This thing takes off and lands on ski's. And it's huge. From there, I'll be staying at the South Pole station for the next 4+ weeks, putting the telescope together.