Marlborough and Wellington

Picton with it's sound and harbour.

The park at Picton had a little train.

The waterfront at the park at Picton

Horsing around at Picton before getting on the ferry to Wellington.

The kids playing at the vineyard.

The Marlborough region is the Napa Valley of New Zealand.

The Interislander ferry loads cars, sheep, and people for a 3 hour ride across the body of water in between the North and South Islands.

The view from the back of the boat as we left the South Island.

Claire and I on the top outdoor deck of the ferry on this beautiful afternoon.

It got windy later when Phillip came up as we moved into the North Island.

We made it to the windy city of Wellington to see Rus.

A great time was had at Uncle Rus as we watched movies, ate out, and caught up on the National College football championship game (on DVD of course).

Many have commented that New Zealand is more of a vacation than a mission. I guess our pictures from the 2 week vacation might suggest so. Ours was a short summer holiday compared with most who take 3 to 4 weeks off. It was a perfect 2 weeks for us, not too short and not to long. We were tired but went back to work last week. I promise there is work here but the pictures aren't as pretty. Lynn has had a very busy 2 weeks back at work as the first Northland respiratory therapist started from Auckland and his pulmonology replacement arrived from South Africa. He felt excited to see things coming together after 9 months but awkward to train your own replacement for a job you really like.

Kaikoura Whale Watching

Sperm whale head...

spout...

and tail

albatross with 6-8 foot wingspan

New Zealand fur seals on the rocks

Kaikoura (kai=food and koura=lobster in Maori) is aptly named because it is the major feeding grounds for marine mammals in New Zealand. Less than a mile offshore is a deep trench with food and fish pouring up for the whales, seals and dolphins. Just driving into town we came upon a NZ fur seal colony with 30-40 seals laying and playing on the rocks. We had a very successful whale watching trip spotting about 7 sperm whales up to 50 feet long. These whales have 2.5 tons of oil stored in the top of their heads! They dive deep down and feed on giant squid and other creatures. Other species of whale come to Kaikoura but usually in winter.

Antarctic Blast

This is a model for a research camp.

The explorers get on these yellow land and water cruisers which we got to ride along a track in. It also had a section of deep water which the truck did float in.

The museum had a room with freezing temperatures and periodic wind storms.

The kids and even Lynn enjoyed the Antarctica simulation with an ice slide.

The US military has a base for Antarctic exploration out of Christ Church right next door to the museum.
We could see the planes parked with ski bottoms ready to go.These planes are pictured landing right on the ice. Sounds better to take the 3 hour flight than a month on an icebreaker boat.

Even Antarctica has a church.

We all enjoyed the museum on Antarctica. Here are some facts we remembered:

1) It's 98% covered with ice which averages 2200 meters THICK and accounts for 70% of the world's fresh water

2) Closest continent to it is South America

3) In winter it is dark for 24 hours a day for 3 whole months. Then in summer the sun never sets for 3 months. It has to do with the tilt of the earth.

4) Anatarctica is 1 1/2 times BIGGER than the whole US and is only partially mapped on the interior

5) Fossils like coal, trees and dinosaur remains means it wasn't allways covered by ice. Some trees buried whole indicate it may have been flooded in a massive flood.

6) It hardly ever gets snow (less than 5 mm a year) even though it is everywhere. It is so dry that dehydration is one of the major risks.

7) Fish live in freezing water by producing a blood antifreeze.

8) Your hair grows twice as fast in Antarctica. Can you imagine us wintering there? We are all already so hairy.

9) Just as there are the Northern Lights visible in Alaska, there are the Southern Lights (or Aurora Australis) visible in Antarctica and in southern New Zealand. The lights appear as luminiscence in the sky during June and July due to atmospheric gases colliding with energized atoms frome the sun...blah,blah, something like that.

10) Hurricane force winds are a regular occurence thus solidifying the museum simulator is as close as I will get. I recommend watching the Disney movie 8 Below for more info.

Milford Sound

The Milford Sound trip was actually the morning of the Shotover River and Arrowtown drive but requires it's own blog entry due to the majesty we saw. A picture is worth a thousand words they say.