A Day in Christchurch

I am now safely in Christchurch. I met with another IceCuber in Auckland, turns out he was on the same flight from LA - Auckland. For some reason, they put us on different flights from Auckland - Christchurch.

It is the middle of the summer here now, and the first things you notice when you get out of the airport are just how warm it is, and the quality of lighting has a definite summer-ness to it.

The trip was long but fairly uneventful. I sat next to an American who had been to Antarctica in the Dry Valleys about 10 years ago. He now works for an agency equivalent to NOAA in Auckland, New Zealand. One of his current projects is to use trace-radioactivity to date ice cores and rocks etc., and another is to use tree rings to study how trends in El Nino is changing over time.

Today I had essentially a free day in Christchurch. I caught up with my email, and I went out to walk around the town for a while. I got a Japanese haircut, had some Japanese food (and ice cream!), walked around some more, then went to the Caterbury Museum at the Botanical Garden, then saw the roses at the garden. I saw an exhibit on the Scott and Hilary expeditions from the first half of the 1900's, and they have on exhibit some of the vehicles that were used for those expeditions. I uploaded some photos so you can have a look:
http://picasaweb.google.com/RainSnow3Ice/ChristchurchDecember2010

The colors are so intense now, and the roses in the Botanical Garden are in full bloom.

Tomorrow I go to CDC to pick up my Antarctic jacket, boots, and other ECW (Extreme Cold Weather) gear.

On my way

This morning I said goodbye to my family and got on the plane to LAX - Auckland - Christchurch. We had a really nice thanksgiving with friends and family, and it was really hard to leave them behind. I will be gone for almost exactly a month this time. My daughter is a lot more aware of what's going on which makes it both easier and harder. We promised to write each other letters.
With dad and grandma at home she's in good hands. Thanks dad and grandma!

South Pole, take 2

Hi everyone!
Yup, it's that time of the year again and I'm headed back to the South Pole. I leave on Friday, Nov. 26, scheduled to come back Christmas Eve. Wish us luck! This is the final year of IceCube construction, and I will be leading the deployment of a special device which is a prototype for a potential future project that will look for dark matter. The detectors are packed and on their way, now I have to get packed. Childcare, check (thanks, DH and GM!). Thanksgiving dinner, half-check. Packing-list, check. Packing itself... I'm on it!