Christchurch and Departure.

Well, after a quick plane ride followed by a very long plane ride followed by another quick plane ride, we arrived in Christchurch, NZ. The long haul plane was pretty wonderful; wonderful service, enough leg room and lots of movies. The only problem was about halfway through the trip, in the middle of the night (we were all asleep), we awoke to some really crazy turbulence and the pilot came over the intercom to tell us to buckle up and sit down! But, just as soon as it started, it was over. We speculated later as to what it could have been; I thought we were pretty close to the ITCZ, so it could have been just really strong thunderstorms (for you non-weather folk, the ITCZ is located just North and South of the equator, where you get good thunderstorms.) But I think we decided it was a gravity wave (dissipating thunderstorm).
But we arrived, and I explored, and here are a couple pictures (click on thumbnails to see the whole picture. My camera takes amazing pics.):

This is the arts centre, which was amazing. Lots of handmade gifts and trinkets. And it is really close to our hotel. I will definately be back there upon my return.
And for those who were wondering, the "animal de tour" for this trip is the amazing Hugh (though a couple others managed to stow away in my luggage). And here he is in a tree in the downtown Christchurch.
The second day in town, we travelled back to the airport to go to the Antarctic Centre, where we tried on all of our gear that was issued to us and got briefed on the next days journey. This is a shot of the Antarctic Centre.
So the next day we woke at 3 AM and went back to the Antarctic Centre to begin our trip. We got geared up (I'll send pics later of what we look like in our gear), and went through security. After what seemed like ages standing around in enormous parkas and snow pants, we got on shuttles which took us to our plane. A US military C-17. No windows (except for one), very uncomfortable seats (I have a greater respect for the troops who have to sit in these all of the time), and we were off.
About three hours into our five hour flight, Jen told me to look out of the little window on the emergency exit. This is what I saw:
We had arrived over the ice pack. How cool is that?!
So we landed, and deplaned. It was cold, but nothing I haven't felt in Laramie before. What an amazing place. The weather was clear (Condition 3) but I am sitting in my office now and it is windy and snowy, though it is a balmy 7 degrees F. We are going to try to launch a ozone balloon today, but we have to keep a weather eye.
That's it for me. I'll have more exciting pictures soon.