Antarctica Episode III

Giraffe at Orana Wildlife Park - photo by Drew T.W.

Larry, Curly, and Moe - photo by Drew T.W.

McMurdo Observation Hill - photo provided by Drew T.W.

Morning! Our flight ended up cancelled on Saturday and they don't like to fly on Sundays so we got a whole weekend in Christchurch. Bonus!

On Saturday, I helped Brian with some yard projects (turns out the vines here are pretty tenacious) and we went to Orana Wildlife Park. They're dedicated to getting people interested in and educated about wildlife conservation efforts, which is cool. I watched lions, tigers, and cheetahs get fed for the day, watched as a sneaky magpie stole some food from a Tasmanian devil, saw meerkats perch on lookout, and even got to hand-feed a giraffe! There's a whole list of new animals off my checklist. On Sunday, we drove out to Brian and Kay's lot out in the hills on Bank's Peninsula just south of Christchurch. The cows and sheep get to roam free in the green hills, just happy as can be. The cows walked right up to us when we arrived and wanted to know what we were all about but the sheep weren't so curious and continued to lounge in the open air. It was good to get out of the city for an afternoon.

Anyways, our flight down to McMurdo is scheduled for today. Check in time was 0600 but it's already been delayed until 0900 for weather again. Looking at the Mactown webcam shows exactly why: if visibility is that terrible on the island then it's gotta be terrible at the airfield down on the ice. Imagine trying to land on a white runway with white fog and blowing white snow. It's not an adventure without some "weather".

Love you!
Drew

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