Weather Delays in New Zealand

Aug 19th: Left Denver to fly to San Fran (was on the new boeing dreamliner that was super fancy) then to Auckland, NZ

Aug 20th: Day lost due to crossing int'l date line

Aug 21: Happy birthday bro!!!  Arrived to Auckland. Then flight to Christchurch. Flew over some gorgeous snowy mountains on the way. After we landed, I went for a walk. Grabbed some fish and chips and then walked around Christchurch for a while. Went by the cathedral square, and quite a was along the Avon river. Then wondered around the botanical gardens before heading back to my hotel, the very nice Pavillions (complete with hot tub, 2 beds in my room (which is big for new zealand), and heated electric blankets.

One of my favorite things about Christchurch is all the cheap and yummy international take-away style restaurants. The food is delicious and authentic and cheap, even if it were in US dollars, but we get the 30% off with the conversion rate. So I was excited for that and hoping for some weather delays to be able to stay longer

That evening I went for drinks and then dinner (Thai restaurant) with one of my very favorite Antarcticans, Cassa 'radawesum' Grant. She was one of my very best friends my first year, and it has been 4 years since I've seen her, so I was very excited to see her. This is her first year not going down, but she lives in NZ now with her boyfriend who is a kiwi. They just bought a camper trailer to live in, which is pretty cool

Aug 22:

Training at the antarctic center, flu shots, and ECW gear issue. The crary folks and I went out for lunch to a yummy Indian place

Carolyn, the other crary lab assistant has a friend living in Christchurch, Ursula, who was the Scott Base research tech last year, so we met up with her after work and she took us on a cool hike up to a mtn just outside of christchurch that had amazing views looking down on Christchurch and the ocean, the snow-capped peaks across the valley and Lyttelton and Lyttleton bay, which was originally the crater of a volcano a long time ago. We watched the sunset form the top and then went back down, and we had dinner at a Thai Restaurant. 

Aug 23:

We had learned we were on a 2 day weather delay due to bad weather at McMurdo, so I took a shuttle to Mt. Hutt, and skied the day at Mt. Hutt ski area. I skied there last time I was here. It's a really cool mountains. All above tree-line, with some great terrain and amazing mountain vistas. One of the crazy things is that you can see the ocean and the green agriculture fields below you. The mtns are so steep, that on this one ridge as you're flying down, if you look left, it looks like you're straight above the green fields, which is crazy, and in sharp contrast to the bright white snow. Skiing in the rockies, seeing such green fields, that appear so close is just not something we experience. It was beautiful weather, and I really enjoyed the skiing. Went to dinner at one of my favorite thai places from a few years ago, that is located in a little camper trailer.

Aug 24:

Continued weather delay.

Ursula took off work, so she drove Carolyn, Richard (the instrument tech), some gal named Bonnie (works in the chalet), and myself to Kaikoura. Kaikoura is on the coast and famous for its whale watching. We did a hike around the peninsula. First during low tide we walked along the intertidal, and then on the way back we climbed up to the bluffs and walked back that way. Along the way we saw tons and tons of NZ fur seals, which were very cute, including many pups. The most striking thing; however, was the views across the bay with the snowy peaks rising straight out of the ocean. Super gorgeous. It was a beautiful day and surprisingly warm. T-shirt weather. After the hike, we walked along Kaikoura town's black pebble beach and then got some icecream. 

Normally you can take a coastal road that takes 2 hours from Christchurch to Kaikoura, but Kaikoura was the town hit super hard by the last earthquake. That road was basically completely destroyed, so we took a scenic inland road that took 3 hours and that went through the foothills with nice views of the snowy peaks. Just google image search "kaikoura coastal road earthquake" to see some of the crazy destruction.

Carolyn packed us a very healthy lunch of kale, nuts, hummus, sheep cheese, avocado, and tomatoes for the walk. For dinner I went to a thai place right near to me

Aug 25th

Continued weather delay, so I rented a car and drove the Alpine Hwy to Aurthur's pass. The drive from Christchurch to the beginning of the pass was pretty with a backdrop of snowy peaks and sheep and more sheep in the foreground. The scenery got even better as I got into the foothills and drove through old glacial valleys surrounded by snowy peaks with braided rivers meandering through them. At the pass, it started to drizzle, so I kept going, and ended up driving all the way to the west coast and the ocean.  After checking out the ocean for a bit, I drove back up to the pass. The weather had cleared, so I did a hike up to temple basin. It was a fairly short, but steep hike up to the basin, and it afforded great views. I could see Avalanche peak, which Elisha, Jerod, Monica, and I had climbed several years ago during our campervan trip. 

To my surprise, at the top was a tiny little club ski field called temple basin ski area that had 3 rope tows (http://www.templebasin.co.nz/). I talked to some people, and the public are welcome to ski there. It's big for back country, and there were 3 little buildings up there that were cute and cozy: ski lodge (bunk style with kitchen, bar, hang-out room, yoga room, TV, and ping pong table, ski patrol building, and staff accommodation. You have to hike the steep trail to get to the ski area, but they will load your gear up on this small gear lift to take it up to the base area. It was such a cute little ski area, and I was very impressed with it. I imagine lots of those lost ski areas of Colorado used to be like this before the big boy resorts knocked them out and snow became scarder. Never heard of the lost ski resorts of Colorado? They're quite interesting. 145 have been 'lost'.   Check it out here: http://www.coloradoskihistory.com/lostresorts.html

one of them is of course hidden valley by EP, but there was also Davis Hill (downtown EP: first night skiing in the state!), Old Man Mountain, and Leydman Hill in EP as well as Rock Creek in Lyons and Haugan's hill in Allenspark

I drove back to christchurch and had a yummy Indian dinner before going to bed

Kiwis are still a very trusting people. When I tried to get gas, there was no spot to insert your credit card to being pumping gas. So I went in to ask them how to do it. One of the girls ran out and just started pumping b/c she thought I didn't know how to pump gas! I explained I knew how to pump, I just didn't know how to turn on the pump without a card. And she laughed and said in NZ you can just start pumping, even at night, without pre-paying b/c they are trusting. That's crazy when you think about how it is in the US. Also, when I rented skis, I expected to have to check them in so they could see if there was damage or anything like that. But they just had us throw our skis and boots in a pile. There was no name or anything attached to the skis and me, so had I wanted, I could have walked out with the skis, and they would haven never known. That's crazy.

Aug 26 

Had a chill day around Christchurch. Did some shopping for fruits and vegetables and slept in a bit. Had a solvaki for lunch at an Egyptian place and had Japanese for dinner.

Aug 27

I rented a car again and drove from Christchurch to Mt. Cook Village. It was an incredibly scenic drive going over a little pass (Burkes Pass) and having beautiful mountain views once I got up into the high country. I did a little walk along turquoise Lake Tekapo, which is surrounded by snowy peaks, and went up to the top of Mt. Johns, which had incredibly 360 views. My next stop was Lake Pukaki, from where I could see Mt. Cook (NZ's tallest peak) in the distance. It wasn't a very sunny day and later in the day, so the lake wasn't very colorful, but when Elisha and I went here during another Antarctic deployment, we remember it being such a gorgeous turquoise color. 

I then drove to Mt. Cook village, which is a breathtaking drive along the lake and then glacial valleys, with incredibly tall and steep glaciated peaks all around. At Mt. Cook Village, I asked at the ranger station about a hike. The gal said I could only do the Hooker lake hike b/c it was 3 hrs roundtrip and it was now 3 hours til dark. Well... I wasn't feeling too rushed b/c I'm not scared about walking in the dark, especially since new zealand has no native mammals, and the introduced ones are ferocious possums, mice, and rabbits. I first went to the internet cafe to check in with richard and carolyn so that they wouldn't be worried. Then I drove to the tasman valley and did the hike to the tasman glacier viewpoint. This is the largest glacier in NZ and also the fastest retreating. in 1990, the glacier went beyond the viewpoint. Now it's several miles from the viewpoint. It's receding at an astonishing 800 meters per year! In a few years it won't be visible from the viewpoint, and to think when I was hear with my parents (assuming we stopped by) the glacier would have been right at the car park.

After the hike, I finally made it to the hooker valley trail for the hike to hooker lake. This hike has stunning views of Mt. Cook, which were made even more stunning by the fact that the mountain had been hidden from the time I left the far shores of lake pukaki for the entire 60 mile drive to Mt. Cook Village and the entire time I was in the village. So it was a great surprise when it finally opened up in all it's brilliance! The lake was cool, and had tons of huge icebergs in it. I made it back to the car just at dark (I had down the roundtrip in 1hr 30mins)

It was a 4 hour drive back to Christchurch, so I had no nice meals today. Just trail mix for lunch and a coke for dinner to make sure I stayed alert. Funny thing. I had visited Hooker lake, and on my drive back in christchurch, I visited 'hooker' road. Around midnight as I approached the road where I would be dropping the car off, I noticed a woman not wearing much, which made me do a double take considering it's winter. She waved at me. As I continued down the street, I saw several more scantily clad women who waved or signaled at me. One even exposed her breasts to me. I guess I found the sunday night hooker street in Christchurch!

Aug 28

We had 2 hours of training today at the antarctic center (fire safety, light vehicle safety, and medical intro). I think it was to mainly make sure we hadn't all left for some kiwi vacation! Had another chill day. Had super yummy authentic chinese for lunch and also for dinner

Aug 29

Richard, Carolyn, and I rented a car and head over to Akaroa. It's a peninsula near christchurch that is a sunken crater created by a volcanic eruption. In the center is water. It looks like a like, but it's actually ocean water as there is a small inlet into the crater. Living around the peninsula are penguins and a very rare and endangered dolphin. We first visited the port town of Lytleton, and then drove around the summit crater road, which afforded great views out to the ocean and some cool bays and coves and then in towards the crater with it's beautiful blue water. Towards the end of the drive, Carolyn and I did a hike that went up and over the crater rim and then dropped down to the crater bottom and the town of Akaroa where Richard met us after driving and hanging out in Akaroa. It was a beautiful day and beautiful hike in sheep country with great views all around. From the top we could even see Kaikoura and the snowy mountains way, way in the distance (the sign said 200km away). We hung out in Akaroa for a bit. It's a cute town, that was settled by the French, so it has a French flare, and even the streets are name 'Rue'

In the evening I watched a movie in the hotel and went to a very tasty Indian/Nepalese place

Aug 30  Still delayed

I rented a car, even though it was kind of poor weather in Christchurch. I drove the car up to Lewis Pass which goes over to the west coast. I was expecting a very chill day and drive considering the slightly drizzly weather, but as I neared the pass, the clouds amazingly broke! And so I had beautiful views of the big mountains up there. I drove over towards the west coast to the town of **** where I had a burger. From the other pass on down, it's a scenic drive with some snowy mountains and heavily forested mountains that are covered in temperate rainforest trees. Very thick tree cover. After lunch, I drove back up to the top of the pass, and then did a 2 hour climb up to the top of Lewis peak, which afforded some stunning views across the mountains. The mountains are so steep here, that it's also breathtaking to look straight down to the valleys and glacial rivers below. The whole view from the top mountains down to the glacial carved valleys is just spectacular. 

There had been a mistake with the rental car, so they gave me a fancy luxury car for the same price. It was fun to drive, and boy did it have a kick, especially on those mountain roads! For dinner I went back to the yummy authentic chinese place

8/31 Still on delay. The first 2 flights (I'm booked on the 3rd) were supposed to try today, so we bag dragged (checked in), but the first 2 flights didn't make it out due to weather. So our bags are checked now, and all we have are our 'boomerang' bags. The bags that if we do fly, but get turned around mid-flight do to weather, will be the ones they deliver back to us for the night before trying again. This way they don't have to go back and forth with our checked luggage. After bag drag, I mostly had a chill day, doing computer stuff. Called Elisha, and tried to call my brother, but no luck. Had egyptian for lunch and aa yummy Indian dinner

9/1

Helped Ursula move into her new house in the morning. Then had some fish and chips for lunch and did some research on future NZ travel at the DOC (department of conservation). Then did some computer work in the afternoon and had perhaps one last tasty thai meal.

9/2

Woke up at 5am for the flight, but then found out it was on 24 hr weather delay for being Con 1 at McM. I realized I had forgotten a towel, so I walked to the Riccarton area and bought a towel and then had a nice indian lunch in that area. Chilled most of the day, watching the CU vs CSU football game, which took longer than hoped for b/c of slow internet connection and lots of buffering. In the evening I went out for Thai, sat in the hot tub for a bit, and then watched a movie

9/3
Woke up at 4am for the flight, but then found out it was on another 24 hr weather delay. So richard rented a car, and he and I drove south along the coast to the historic (looks old british) town of Oamaru. Wasn't a super spectacular drive, esp since it was quite rainy, but there was some nice coastal stops and Oamaru was interesting with it's old historic buildings. We had lunch at a thai place, and then visited a penguin nesting air for blue penguins. They spend their day at sea and come home at dusk to their burrows, but we were lucky to see one disoriented blue penguin who was out in mid daylight. Also lots of fur seals in the area. Had more thai for dinner!

9/4
Back up at 4:30 am. This time it was a go! We were on the airbus, which is the nice commercial type airplane compared to the military C-17. I had a window seat and the views were amazing. First the ice artwork as we passed through the various levels of frozen ocean (drift ice, pancake ice, pack ice, 1 season solid ice, multi year ice), and then eventually hit some islands (2 of which the pilot said were super rare to see since they are almost always obscured by clouds). Finally we flew over the continent which is breathtaking as always, with the massive glaciers coming out to the sea and choking, and nearly covering the mountains as the ice is so thick. We arrive to fairly cold weather, but not super cold (-20F). Went through our safety briefings and then started work right away