Hello from Christchurch everyone! Can I just start this blog by saying that I love this country! It is absolutely beautiful here and everyone is very nice and they just seem happy. I'm extremely happy to say that I am getting at least one extra day here before I go down to the ice. The weather at McMurdo Station is has been very unpredictable and has caused many flights in to be canceled and a few have had to "boomerang" back to Christchurch. It has been a very good trip so far. I was able to spend two great days with Noelle in Denver before she went home and I flew to New Zealand.
Surprisingly enough the flight from LAX to Aukland wasn't too bad. I was on a Qantas aircraft and I must say that the experience exceeded my expectations. The crew on the aircraft was very nice and the food wasn't all that bad. We took off at 9:05 PM on Oct. 6 in Los Angeles and landed at 5:45 AM on Oct. 8. It was only a 12 hour flight but like Marty McFly I went Back to the Future! I was able to stay up on the flight just long enough to eat dinner at around 11:30, finished watching "Get Smart" took my sleeping pills and woke up at 4:30 in the morning. From there I took my first trip ever through customs and got my first stamp in my passport! For me it was a very quick and very painless experience. However, there was a kid in our group who was not so lucky. As he was claiming his baggage he was flagged by a drug dog and was taken back and searched for about half an hour. He didn't have anything on him and when the customs agents finally figured that out they told him to get the "fuck out" of their office. Poor kid's only 20 years old.
After landing in Aukland we took a short flight to Christchurch and got to the hotel at around 11:30 AM NZ time. I am staying at the Camelot Cathedral Hotel in Cathedral Square. It's a huge room, but by no means is it like staying at the marriot. I wasn't able to check into my room right away because the rooms still had people in them that should have been on the ice about 4 days ago. So I went to the library and tried to get on my email which yahoo has seemed to deleted temporarily. still working on getting it fixed. Then i walked around town with some of the great people I have met down here and experienced the beauty of the city. At around 1:30 I went to a bar called the Stock X Change. It's an interesting bar with some really good food. I had Two Bangers and Chunky Fries which were great. I also had a local beer called Tui which is a really great beer.
After lunch I finally got into my room around 2:45 PM and took a quick shower and came to the realization that I was one of the only ones who didn't check into their room and go to sleep for the rest of the day. I was able to find a handful of people at a bar called Dux de Lux which has their own line of beers. For the first time in my life I had a Ginger Beer called Ginger Tom. It sounds odd but it has a really good flavor. And from there the party really started!
Myself and 4 other guys went on a rampage through town. We went from Dux de Lux to Bailees to Sullivans and finished up the evening with from Burger King. What I do find really odd about New Zealand is the fact that the population consists of Whites, Natives and a large population of Asians. But like I said earlier everyone is extremely nice.
This morning I went to the CDC (not the center for disease control, not sure what it stands for but it's where you get your ECW (extreme cold weather) gear.
For now that's about all I think I'm going to write, I will write again to tell everyone about the flight to Antarctica and to hopefully upload some photos for everyone to see!
I miss everyone much love!
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