Sad goodbyes at the airport, hours and hours on a plane, brief minutes in Sydney, more hours on a plane. Finally the snowcapped Southern Alps of the South Island of New Zealand emerg from behind a bank of cumulous clouds. The bumpy approach to Christchurch was followed by the unwelcome news that Grant's and my bags didn't make the transfer in Sydney, along with those of 20 or so other passengers. The lost-baggage line was painfully slow, and after over an hour we learned that our bags would be arriving the next day and would be delivered to our hotel. At least we wouldn't have to take them through imigration, which in New Zealand is quite rigorous in order to keep out invasive plants and animals.
At the airport we were suprised to find that Annie, the third member of the Adelie team at Cape Crozier, was also on the Sydney-Christchurch flight with us; she was scheduled to be a couple hours behind us.
That afternoon and the next morning we recovered from the flight in our hotel, the homey Windsor B&B, and wandered downtown Christchurch hunting food and last minute necessities. Christchurch feels generally familiar from my time here in 2002, but its taking me a while to get my bearings.
The Windsor B&B
Yesterday afternoon (Nov 5; NZ time is 21 hours ahead of CA) we went to the US Antarctic Program Clothing Distribution Center near the airport and tried on our Extreme Cold Weather (ECW) clothes. These consist of the classic red jacket with fur-lined hood, insulated windproof bibs, big blue boots with double felt insoles and fuzzy liners, fleece balaclava, goggles, and giant over-mittens called gauntlets.
We had a celebratory Thai food dinner that night with David Ainley, the Principle Investigator for the project, and Phil, an New Zealand partner. By the time we got back from eating, our bags had finally arrived and I hastily did my final rearanging of gear for the big flight to the ice the next day.
Nov 6
Alarm sounds at 4:30 this morning; onto the shuttle bus shortly after 5. Anticipation grows as we near the airport. There we donned our EWC for the flight (just in case we have an emergency landing on the ice), and sorted our luggage into "check-in", "carry on", and "boomerang" bags. If our flight gets turned around due to weather, our checked bags stay palletized (plastic-wrapped onto a pallet) on the plane, and we get our boomerang and carry-on bags for the night and hopefully fly the next day. Breakfast was at the Antarctic Center cafe, then we piled into a bus for the ride to the plane. The morning's first rays of sun struck the US Antarctic Program logo on the side of a warehouse as the nearly full moon set behind. I took it as a good sign.
We pulled up along side the giant military transport plane (C-17 Globemaster 3), and waited for the go-ahead signal to load up. Gaping gray jet engines looked big enough to suck in the whole bus, not to mention the ground crew milling about. We waited and waited. Some RNZAF Huey helicopters took off right behind us. We waited some more. Then we learned that our plane had a fuel leak and we wouldn't be flying today, nor tomorrow, and likely not Sunday either. A wave of frustrated dissapointment washed over the bus. Back to the Clothing Distribution Center and out of the EWC, then onto a shuttle and back to the Windsor.
Annie and Grant wait for our luggage to be unloaded after learning the plane couldn't fly us south.
That's where I am now. We're not sure when we'll be flying, but we will take this chance for some more good coffee and beers around town.
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