Safe Flight Home

Sorry for the late reply. I did not have good internet access while in New Zealand. They do have good internet cafes, but the place I went to did not have a way for me to upload my photos. Anyway, after a delay we flew from McMurdo back to Christchurch on a Kiwi C-130. The most exciting part of the trip was when our shuttle van got stuck in the ice on the trip from McMurdo Station out to the aircraft on the ice runway. The ice is starting to melt and in the transition between the land and the ice was particularly soft. Luckily a bulldozer was nearby and able to quickly pull us out so we did not miss our flight. It was a 8-hour flight and pretty crowded, but we were all happy to be on our way home. My wife Maggie was waiting for me in Christchurch. And we spent a few days exploring the south island. We went visited some old volcanoes near Christchurch, went to the beach and a harbor cruise (where we saw a bunch of dolphins). We also took the train to the "Southern Alps" of New Zealand and spent some time hiking (or "tramping" as the Kiwi's say) around some of the areas they filmed Lord of the Rings. Then we flew to the North Island and visited our friends Nancy and Bryan. They moved from Boulder to New Zealand a couple of years ago and we had a really fun time touring and hiking around the North Island with them. I had a really had a great trip South, but glad to be back home. I have another field trip coming up in February when study the Mexico City air pollution problem. Take care. Barry