Christchurch, New Zealand

After several days travel I finally made it to McMurdo Station, Antarctica. We're hoping to leave for South Pole tomorrow but there have been a lot of weather delays so we're keeping our fingers crossed.

I spent a day in Christchurch, New Zealand picking up my ECW (extreme cold weather gear). Christchurch has always been one of my favorite cities in the world and to see the devastation wrought by the earthquakes over the last year was a bit heart wrenching. I stood in places that I had been dozens of times before and had no idea where I was because it looked so different with the crumbling buildings, and in some cases empty lots that have already been cleared. The heart of the city is a ghost town and eerily quiet. Churches, houses and high rises are toppled. 


We wandered through the botanic gardens though and it was nice to see that one of the anchors of the city is virtually untouched by the quakes and continues to grace Christchurch with a beautiful, reflective place for people to go.