A rainy and pretty cold (7°C) pre-dawn morning here in Christchurch. After travelling from the US on some very long flights (three of us on a 16.5 hour flight from Dallas/Fort Worth to Sydney) of us met up in the international terminal in Sydney, Australia airport yesterday, and after long lines in the Christchurch airports finally made it to the Elms hotel. We had a lovely dinner in the faux-rustic West Coast Cafe, I answered a hundred questions (a traditional start to the season), and we tried white bait (this was faux-rustic white bait, more egg and batter than eel larvae).  Some of the folks (particularly Vinciane) have been travelling for more than 48 hours so we made an early night of it all.  Ryan, who spent a few days in Sydney without us,  didn’t get into christchurch until the wee hours;  but I’ve gotten confirmation he’s here, so we’re good to go.

I’m up super early just because I’m an old man and it’ll be a few days before my body will adjust to the time change. Around 9 am this morning the 6 of us will catch a shuttle bus back to the Antarctic terminal next to the airport, where we’ll enjoy the hospitality of the CDC (clothing distribution center) to get our issued clothing and let the hired hackers rampage through our laptops in the name of security.  I promise a full report on that later today.

Ralph, Christine and Shannon many hour ago in the DFW airport.

–posted by Ralph very very early Tuesday morning here in Christchurch