Gorgeous New Zealand

Good Ol' Cromwell... fruit capital of NZ

You probably came to my blog to see incredible images from Antarctica.  Ha!  I fooled you.  The following images are indeed incredible, but are all from New Zealand (I promise the Antarctica ones will come, provided my camera doesn't wimp out in the cold).  Well, we left off our story telling at Otago University where I was giving a talk to the geography department.  For the two of you that are diehard followers of my blog, you might argue that I was giving a talk to the physics department.  Ahh, but we are trying to recreate my PhD application process when I applied to physics, math, geography, and engineering (all at the same two universities).  Thus, I gave my chemistry talk about my engineering PhD to physics and geology professors (and a math grad) at the Otago geography department.  Surprisingly, everyone seemed to follow it and I was subsequently bombarded with excellent questions.  After an excellent lunch, I drove out to Cromwell to visit the vineyard where I worked in 2007 and was lucky to pick up two hitchhikers in Dunedin who accompanied me the whole way.  Sadly, the owners at Olssens have sold their vineyard but the land seems to still be producing excellent grapes.

Grant and I with Mt Cook over our heads

I then continued the drive out to visit my friends Grant, Sarah, and their four boys (who at ages 7-12 aren't quite as small as I remembered).  Grant didn't need much more of an excuse to take the day off from work to take me on a sweet hike in the Mount Cook National Park (Cook is the tallest Mountain in NZ).  If it wasn't the last day of school for the term, I think the boys would have skipped as well to go skiing.  We started along the Sealy Tarns trail and after a pretty steep climb, we quickly reached the snow fields.  Considering there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the temps were quite warm, the joys of postholing began.  After another hour of sludging through the snow, we decided we were wet enough and lunched with one of the best views I have had in quite some time (maybe since my last visit to NZ).

View of Mt Sefton

I admit that I am quite jealous that this region is now Grant's backyard.  Unfortunately we couldn't spend too long up there as we had to return in time for Daniel's birthday party (or Grant would have been in quite some trouble).  I was treated to a typical 7-year-old NZ birthday party, complete with treasure hunt, sports, and lollicakes.  Alas, I had to call an end to my epic 4-day adventure across NZ.  In total, I think I covered 1100 km (680 miles) and although gas runs at about $6.50/gallon, the fuel efficiency of my little Toyota Yaris ensured I didn't break the bank.

At lunch rocks with Mt Cook in the background

Snowfields with view of lunch rocks

Leaving Mt Cook National Park

Earthquake damage in Christchurch

I finally made it back to my hotel in Christchurch around 9pm.  As Rachel (www.rachelinantarctica.wordpress.com) had just finished her around the world journey to New Zealand, she was already asleep by the time I checked in.  Realizing I still needed to return the rental car to the airport (8 km away), I inquired about a shuttle.  After they mentioned it was $10 I decided I would just enjoy an evening run back, to which they thought I was mad (well it was cold and kind of rainy).  However, I enjoyed those $10 immensely more with an Egyptian souvlaki back in my room. Rachel and I then rendezvoused at a local coffee shop and proceeded to spend the entire day catching up on work.  We did take a sobering walk through downtown Christchurch to observe the damage that still remains from last year's earthquake.  It seems nearly everyone here has a story of someone who just barely survived.  After a productive day, we dined with local Thai food and a bottle of wine from my old vineyard.