Christchurch, New Zealand

It took around 36 hours end to end, but I arrived yesterday in Christchurch along with several other SPT travelers.    Christchurch is the largest city on the South island, and is the location of the Antarctic program offices.  We flew on commercial airlines to get here, but the final two flights will be on a US government owned C-17 and LC-130 Hercules planes.  We will attend an orientation and receive our cold weather gear this afternoon.  The flight to McMurdo station is scheduled for tomorrow morning.  The rest of the time here is free for catching up on sleep, working and exploring!

As some of you know,  Christchurch had two major earthquakes and several smaller ones over the past two years.   There was significant building and infrastructure damage as well as loss of life.   I was told that a significant number of residents moved away afterwards.  Our shuttle driver from the airport was pointing out brick walls in front of houses that had fallen down and were now replaced with wood.   On the way to lunch, we walked past a church that was missing quite a bit of its exterior. Its spire was sitting on a wood frame in the front lawn and was held upright by long tethers.  Much of the downtown area is part of the "red zone", where there is no public access.  Last night we walked down past the red zone to go a pub on the other other side.  It was extremely quiet, and a bit eery because it was raining.  There are still tall buildings but some parts were just gravel lots, waiting for someone to rebuild.   

In spite of this,  I still find Christchurch to be a beautiful place full of friendly people.     The whole area is incredibly green, and as we landed yesterday we flew over fields of sheep and cows.  Plants are in full bloom right now, and there are amazing flowers everywhere.