Auckland; Leaving Already?

09:00h

Made it back to the Midwest of the South Pacific, where the most threatening thing is the drug dog that will point you out to Customs if you have had any fruit (or drugs) in your backpack at any time in the last 10,000 years.

How is it that a 12 hour transpacific flight can seem to take forever, and yet when it's over it's hard to say what exactly happened during those 12 hours? The memory of too-small seats and futile attempts to sleep sitting up is imprinted more on my body, which feels like the 747 actually rolled over it, than in my mind. The in-flight film "Collateral" made more of a mental impression (Tom Cruise blowing away various people on the LA streets I just went jogging on "yesterday"). But the silent view from the back of the darkened plane of hundreds of personal LCD screens embedded in the back of every seat, all tuned to different movies, TV shows, games, etc. was lovely… something straight out of a contemporary art gallery. In the 21st Century, apparently, everyone gets their own in-flight media smorgasbord.

At any rate, though I missed my flight to Christchurch, I'm on the 10 AM flight, just an hour or so away. All I hope is that I don't have to show up at the CDC to get my Ice clothing TODAY. I'm hoping for a hot bath and a nap at the Devon.

Everything is exactly as I remembered it so far.

12:43h

Arrived in Christchurch just a short while ago and I have to get my Extreme Cold Weather Gear in 15 minutes…. may leave for McMurdo at 6 AM tomorrow; no rest for the weary….