Day 1: something like 30 hours of airtime. No hassles, just lots of movies and a lot of sitting. And sitting. And bad airline food. Ending with arrival at Christchurch airport, without our luggage because we hadn't been on top of things enough to remember that it hadn't been checked all the way to New Zealand. Duh.

NZ air was great about it though. Gave us emergency packs with things like t-shirt and toothpaste, and promised to deliver our luggage the next morning.

So we told customs what we had in the luggage--they were concerned about our hiking boots--xrayed our carry-ons, and called United Campervan to come pick us up. Terry and I purchased Vodaphone SIM cards for our phones in the Christchurch airport, then we all were transported to the campervan place. Got trained, sort of, in the intricacies of driving and operating an 18' campervan. Propane, water, waste, toilet, exhaust brake, gears (you start in 2nd, rarely need 1st), etc. Nancy took the wheel and we charged forth through Christchurch traffic to Amber Park, a campervan park where we'd made a reservation.

Got there with no trouble, really. Terry and I navigated and we all were watching like hawks to make sure we didn't do anything stupid. We got full insurance on the van, but we don't want any reason to actually use it.

Christchurch is a lovely city. We walked to a grocery store the first night, after the park owner, John, helped Nancy back up into the site (Sharp! Sharper! [He was understandably concerned for his lovely rosebushes.]), got us hooked to power, and we were on our own. Fortunately near the toilets, as we've made a pact to use the toiled in the van only if it's an emergency. Or, of course, if we're doing what they call "free-camping"--stopping wherever, just along the side of the road. We prefer power, so we've got lights and electric heat.

Our first full day we got up late, fixed simple breakfast, and our luggage arrived. So we spent time trying to figure out where to put things, including 3 large suitcases, in a small campervan. Then we sallied forth to Cathedral Square to explore Christchurch.

Went to a lovely pub, The Bog--good food, good beer, friendly staff. After lunch we decided to go to the Antarctic Centre, very likely to be the closest we'll ever get to Antarctica. Christchurch is a major gathering place for groups going there. LOTS of countries have research stations there, and Christchurch is the jumping off point It's an interesting place, gives you an idea of the difficulties of living in such an inhospitable and difficult environment.

For instance, they have a storm room where the simulate a summer storm. It didn't get below -1F, with winds about like Denver has experienced in the last month, so it was pretty familiar to us. But the noise of the wind was almost unbearable; sounded like a shrill freight train on steroids. And sometimes research teams get snowed in for days, out on the ice, in tents.

They also take care of hurt Little Blue penguins, the world's smallest penguin, around 48 cm tall.

I'll upload pictures when I've got a faster connection.

Then back to our home away from home, really tired. It's adequate and reasonably comfortable, but small