Down Under

I cannot believe it has been almost a year since I posted . . . I guess time flies when you are having fun, and we have been having a lot of fun. And here we are on our biggest adventure yet - New Zealand, Tasmania, and Australia. We left from Kansas City at 8:30 a.m. for Houston, and after an 8-hour layover there, we boarded the plane for Christchurch, via Auckland. We are grateful the Gaskills suggested that we purchase a Skycouch so we could at least lay down - it really worked well, and after watching the Barbie movie, Don and I decided to try to sleep. Since we left in the dark at 8:00, and we arrived in Auckland at 4:55 a.m., we traveled in the dark the whole way. That made it easier to sleep, but we didn't sleep much . . . After a 3-hour layover in Auckland, we finally made it to Christchurch. A huge front had stormed in, and the winds rivalled any that we have in Kansas, but we hope tomorrow is better. It is about 70 degrees, and it would have been perfect without the wind. We went to the Antarctic Center, where we were able to see the smallest penguins, experience an Antarctic storm (though, frankly, it wasn't as cold as the day I drove to Diana's in January during the polar plunge), and we rode in a vehicle that operates in Antarctica. That was pretty interesting - we went up a 45 degree grade - and then down it - crossed a bridge with no center, similar to a cravasse, and went around a hill, almost on the side. We also heard a wonderful talk about Huskies, and I loved that the presenter said the first ones to the South pole were not the men on Amundsen's team but instead the lead dog!

Our driver, Breet, then gave us a short tour of downtown Christchurch and then dropped us at the Wyndham apartments. The first order of business was to purchase a hat for Don, since the sun is very strong here, and a large hole in the ozone layer near Antarctica makes it worse. Then we grabbed a very early dinner, and are headed to bed, as we have a very busy day tomorrow. We have had a terrific beginning to our trip, howevver.