Banks Penninsula

Well, CT arrived safely in Christchurch. We spent another day there touring the city before heading for a hostel on the Banks Pennisnula about an hour east. We have a great sleeping spot called a Stargazer. Kinda a wooden tent with a glass roof. It was a crystal clear night, and we saw the Southern Cross and the Megellanic Clouds. Took a couple of fine day hikes out to the opening of the harbor. One on the ridge, one near the water. Lots of photos.

Then we moved on to Dunedin. Spent today on the Otago Peninsula, where we saw the Royal Albatross, both chicks and adults. Chicks weigh 12 lbs, are completely covered in thick white down, and are about the size of a bushel basket. They will do nothing until about September when they are fully fledged and take their first flights. Then they will leave the nest and not return to land at all for five to eight YEARS. By then the are old enough to come back to the colony and look for a mate. This process takes years as well. Anyway, at their present stage the parents both work on feeding them, sometimes flying 1000 kilometers to find enough food to bring back. With both parents working so hard, they get fed on average about once a day. So we were very lucky to see an adult bird fly in, fly around several times and land. The adults have a wingspan of up to 11 feet. They look huge, even from a distance.

Also in Dunedin we took a tour of the Speights Brewery and the Cadbury Chocolate Factory. The former was great, the latter not so good.

Seoul

Well, I'm hanging out at INchon, the new airport in Seoul. An amazing place. Spent about 5 hours this morning in the city. Went in by bus, toured the large market, got lost (mentally) in a store that sold and INCREDIBLE array of mechanicl pencils, had a fine lunch/breakfast of beef soup and kim chi, and managed to get back to the airport. Took a nap in the special napping lounge - this is my kinda place. Then had a nice shower and a shave for $2 towel fee. Now I'm hanging out in the KAL lounge snacking on more Aisian food and have finally figured out a way to get the computer to display in English. Catch my flight to Auckland in a few hours...

SC

Ready,Set, start the Kiwi 3/13/2010

SC is fueling up with the Armenian side of the family, who will then deposit him at LAX to start flying into tomorrow. Meanwhile CT is back in the snow, stowing the sleds and skis, and will head out tomorrow, winging far west and south. They will meet in Christchurch on Tuesday. It takes 2 days to get there ( and only 1 to get home). Throw in Daylight Savings, the Equator , International Dateline and driving on the left. Another adventure poised. Stay tuned.