Amber on Ice

We left McMurdo at 9pm on the 14th -- I was sure our flight was going to be cancelled since it read "TBD" all day long. Nope, we got off -- all 140 pax. Arriving in Christchurch at 2am. There were a whopping 2 people working the immigration counter; that always happend in Honolulu too -- why is that? Then, we grabbed luggage of which I had 4 bags -- cleared customs; then we man-hauled it over to the Clothing Distribution Center or CDC. Here we had to turn in all of our gear; leave any bags we wanted to store; get our airplane tix; get a shuttle and off the YMCA. The Christchurch YMCA rocks -- for the price; the accommodation is fantastic. We hit the sack around 430am.

The last couple of days have been heaven. It was a bit overcast and windy until today; today was 70 and clear blue skies. New Zealand is full of tourists right now at its high season so everything is overbooked and busy. I've been running barefoot in the grass and sitting at the cathedral square doing some people watching. Fabulous meals; in fact I sent my stomach into a frenzy on day-2.

Tomorrow I head off to Akaroa for the Banks Peninsula Trek or Tramp.

It's completely surreal and often overwhelming to think/ponder on what just transpired in the last few days. I see other "Ice" people all over and feel this natural connection to them as if we magnetically draw towards eachother. Strange.

Did I really just spend 6-months in Antarctica???