Arrival in Christchurch
We arrived in Christchurch at 9:50am on Thursday, October 6th. Wednesday the 5th had disappeared into a time warp when we crossed the international dateline in flight. The Antarctic Program’s facilities are adjacent to the airport and upon our arrival we were shuttled to the Clothing Distribution Center (CDC) for ECW (Extreme Cold Weather) gear issue. At CDC we each found 2 duffel bags full of parkas and wind pants and boots and socks and hats and gloves, etc. that we were told to try on for size. We also sorted it according to what we were required to wear on our flight to McMurdo and what we planned to check with the rest of our baggage. We had a weight limit of 75 pounds for the upcoming flight. After trading in some articles of clothing and organizing the best one could we headed to Cathedral Square in Christchurch to check out our various lodging accommodations for the evening and to find food. I was asleep by 8:00pm and up early the next morning for a full day of training. Afterwards a small group of us dined at a Thai restaurant in town and shared in our excitement and anticipation of what was to come. There was much curiosity as to whether or not our flight would actually depart the next morning, or even worse, boomerang. A flight had actually attempted to make the trip earlier that day, but had to turn around (“boomerang”) just 30 minutes shy of McMurdo Station due to bad weather. Their 5 ½ hour flight turned into a 10 hour one. This was a common occurrence and one we were hoping not to become familiar with.
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Tags: Travel
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