October 13, 2006
I went for a walk this afternoon. Spring is in full bloom here. The air is full of the sweet smell of lavender. Camellias abound as do azaleas and cherry trees. The wind was howling and as it did it scattered a million flower petals to the ground. Some yards seemed to be covered in pink snow. The temperature is pleasant almost warm. I suspect it will not be so in Antarctica. I passed so many people on the sidewalk and as I approached most averted their eyes. It made me a little sad. I wondered why people are so hesitant to smile or to say hello to someone they pass on the street. I know, I know that’s reality. I passed a mailbox that had a small sign that said “Nuclear Free Zone”. That made me smile although I don’t know why. Many mailboxes said, “No Flyers Please” or “No Junk Mail”. I guess we aren’t the only ones who hate that stuff. Houses are well kept but most are small by our standards. All the kids coming from school were wearing uniforms and seemed in a rush to get somewhere. One young man rode by on his bike with a bath towel around his neck like a superman cape. I wonder where he was going and what was he thinking. Keep your fingers crossed. Tomorrow is supposed to be the big day. It's saturday morning here. We are all suited up and ready. They just told us we are on a 1 hour weather delay. Hopefully we will make it all the way although there is a chance of a "boomerang" which simply means we take off and because of weather on the ice are forced to return to Christchurch. They say the record for boomerangs is 7. Hopefully we don't challenge the record. I've taken pictures which I will hopefully attach to my first blog from the ice.

Sadly I send you this note from Christchurch. The airplane we were to have traveled on is broken. They are fixing it now and the plan is to try again tomorrow morning around 9:00. That's okay though because I have a little studying to do in the Air Traffic Control books. I have found the food to be a little different here, the names are the same but what you get is not always what you expect. Not bad just different. While reading the paper today they were reporting on a story in the US and they mentioned that something happened in the "spring (northern)". I still haven't seen any toilets that flush in a counterclockwise direction yet but I have been looking. (TMI) I'm still having a little difficulty converting outside temperatures from the reported celcius to ferenhiet. Hopefully tomorrow I will be talking to you from Antarctica.

Today we were issued our Extreme Cold Weather Gear (ECWG) tried it all on and it seems to fit. We are scheduled to depart for "the ice" tomorrow morningn at 9:00. I was away for a minute while I was Google Talking to Deni. You ought to check it out. I love listening to the people talk down here. I'm sure they think I sound strange as well. I also enjoy reading the paper and the way they use the language. It is delightful! Well I hope the next blog message will be coming to you from the cold continent.

Left Los Angeles an hour late (and without my luggage I found out later). 12 hours later I landed in Aukland, NZ. The flight was very uneventful. I even got some "good" sleep in on the plane. Because we left at night and arrived early in the morning I haven't felt any affects of jet lag. I did loose a day though. It is Wednesday here. Timewise I'm only 4 hours behind Pacific time. Confused? It is 5:30 P.M. here now as I write this and 9:30 in Los Angeles. (Tuesday there Wednesday here though) Wow! how's that for making a short story long? On arrival in Aukland I was going through customs when I heard my name called on the airport PA (never a good sign). Turned out they were calling to tell me that my luggage didn't make the flight but that it would be on the next flight and that they would deliver it to my hotel in ChristChurch. The hotel here is really nice as are the people. I went for a "walkabout" after I checked in to explore the area. It is a gorgeous day here. I ended up at the U. S. Antarctic Center. They have a great Antarctic museum there. I spent about 3 hours touring the facility (yes Deni I read every single word on every display). I then made a side trip to the Clothing Distribution Center where I will go tomorrow at 1:00 to receive my severe weather clothing issue. I am scheduled to depart for Antarctica early morning on the 13th of October. It looks like I will be traveling on an Air Force C-17. They tell me that the flight that went yesterday got half way into the flight and had to return to Christchurch because of bad weather "on the ice". I can't wait to get going. Thanks for all the support and replys to my initial blog and thanks to my wonderful wife for all her support and love and for helping me set this blog up.

Sunday night October 8th, 2006. Well tomorrow is the big day. Deni and I leave at 6:40 AM for Los Angeles. We will arrive at 11:00 and spend most of the day there. We hope to see Chris and Jenni. We will return to the airport and Deni will drop me off at 7:00 PM to catch the 9:40 PM Qantas flight to Aukland NZ. All things being equal I will send another posting from there.