1 January 2010

Greetings from Kiwi Land- 9,000 miles down 4,000 to go!

Posted by Dan Satterfield

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The flight from Auckland to Christ Church-20 mins. from landing.

It’s a beautiful Saturday afternoon here in New Zealand. I have finally rested from the 9,000 mile trip acorss the Pacific. 4,000 miles from Antarctica, and it sure does not feel like it. It’s a warm 29 C here!

My Travel partner Ann Posegate in Cathedral Square, Christ Church.

My Travel partner Ann Posegate in Cathedral Square, Christ Church.

Christchurch is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever seen and after 24 hours in New Zealand, I am convinced they should close the whole country and turn in into a world heritage site. Not sure the Kiwis here would agree, but they are very justly proud of their beautiful country. The flight from Auckland down here to the South Island was the most spectacular plane ride of my life.

My travel partner to the Antarctic, Ann Posegate of NEEF, (see previous posts!) and I are adjusting to the warmth of a sudden summer in mid winter. We spent the morning practicing our photographic skills and trying to convince ourselves were really here and it was Summer. Kind of weird seeing the sun in the northern half of the sky. Already have a bit of a sunburn on the face.

The extremely clean and haze free air of the South Pacific, gives very high UV levels and it takes only 30 mins. to get burned. I am staying out of the midday sun right now and watching Sky News and catching up online.

We head to the ice on Tuesday morning at 530 am!