Countdown to Antarctica - Part 2

My second journey to Antarctica has begun and I arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand yesterday. Today was our initial orientation at the International Antarctic Center at the airport. The orientation consisted of watching several movies describing our responsibilities of protecting the Antarctic environment and general safety information. Interestingly, this also included information on what to do in the event of an earthquake here in Christchurch during the orientation session (thankfully that didn't happen). After the orientation, everyone lined up to get their temperatures taken (to ensure you weren't potentially sick) and were given flu shots (though I already had mine so I luckily got to skip this part). Then it was on to the CDC (the clothing distribution center) to get all of our ECW (extreme cold weather) gear.


The U.S. Antarctic Clothing Distribution Center

Similar to last year, we were asked to try everything on to make sure it would fit as we wouldn't be able to trade things out once we got to the ice. Two large bags held all of the clothing that had been issued for me and it took about 30 minutes to try everything on, exchange the things that didn't fit and repackage everything in anticipation of the flight tomorrow.

ECW gear checkout.



We had the afternoon off so I spent some time exploring more of Christchurch and made it to one of the wildlife reserves where I was able to see some Kiwi birds. I wasn't able to get pictures because they are nocturnal birds and they could only be viewed in a dark environment not conducive to photo taking. They are fascinating birds and it is impressive to see the conservation efforts the people of New Zealand have been undertaking to ensure the Kiwis survival in the face of extinction.

We are now tentatively scheduled to leave tomorrow but were told we have a 50/50 chance of the flight going as the weather does not look too promising. If I get a 4:30am wakeup call, the flight will be cancelled and I'll have another day to hang around Christchurch. Otherwise, the shuttles leave at 5:15 am with a flight check-in time of 6:00 am. This will likely be my last blog before I make it to the ice unless we have several successive days of delays in getting to the ice.





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