Christchurch, New Zealand and more Antarctica prep

It is hard to believe that the time has (nearly) arrived. In a few hours we will get shuttled over to the Clothing Distribution Center (CDC) to board our flight for the ice...hopefully. Weather could hold us back from taking off, or we could "boomerang" which happens when a flight takes off from Christchurch bound for the ice and has to turn around mid flight due to weather turning bad in Antarctica.


I have spent the last 2 days in Christchurch, New Zealand, the portal to the US McMurdo Station in Antarctica. This picture is of another grantee, Nishad, a graduate student at Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station, and I in front of the Robert Falcon Scott statue in downtown Christchurch. Scott was a British Royal Navy officer and number 2 to reach the South Pole on 17 January 1912.

We arrived into New Zealand without too much trouble, although my luggage did not arrive until about an hour ago, a small price to pay for this opportunity. The past 2 days here have been a nice time to get to know the other grantees in the course. There are graduate students, post docs, and some early faculty members participating, and they hail from Spain, Italy, China, Sweden, England, Wales, Austria, Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, India, France, The Netherlands, Canada, the U.S...an extremely diverse and interesting group of scientists. I am feeling extraordinarily blessed to be surrounded by these individuals.


This morning we went to the CDC to get briefed on how Antarctica "works" (the first of many briefings we will have over the next 2-3 days) and to try on and get-to-know our Extreme Cold Weather (ECW) gear. I now have 2 bags stuffed full of fleece and down...and of course, my bunny boots.

This afternoon 5 of us decided we needed to get our fill of foliage and warmth, so we went a bit out of Christchurch for a hike in the nearby port town of Lyttelton on the Banks Peninsula, which has super cool geography actually (check out this map). I really like all the bays, and want to explore more here when we get back from the ice, especially the French town of Akaroa. It was really disorienting once we hiked up to the top of this hill on the Bridle Path and looked down into the harbour at all the bays. Being confused in a new place can be nice sometimes.

This picture is looking out towards Sumner Beach (not labeled on the map unfortunately but east-ish of the harbour). Sumner Beach was going off (=BIG WAVES) and then we read in the paper that 8 different people had to be rescued and one fellow died. CraZY!

This picture is of the much calmer Lyttelton Harbour.

The weather in New Zealand, at least in the summer, is confused. It does not know if it wants to be very sunny and warm, windy, downpouring rain, or overcast. I suppose the extreme diversity in weather is nice before heading to the ice...maybe the US Antarctic Program chose Christchurch as the portal for this reason. Fill us with as many different types of weather as possible in a very short amount of time to help with our mental well being on the ice?? I got both sunburnt, very cold, and drenched today. It was a very good day.


For the course, we were split up into groups of 5 (there are 25 of us total) and paired with one of the 5 professors affiliated with the course for our research we will conduct. I am in the biomechanics/environmental physics group with Drs. Mark Denny and Jim Leichter. My group is fantastic and academically diverse.


I should have been asleep many hours ago, but I am too excited....


Hopefully the next time I write it will be from the ice.