Travel Log: December 12th, 1997


Picture of the Day
Christchurch, New Zealand
"The Garden City"

DECEMBER 12th, 1997

"It was like deja vu all over again." Janice and Randy's flight to Antarctica was cancelled for the second straight day, providing our intrepid explorers a chance to explore Christchurch, NZ at their leisure. The plane was grounded because of a mechanical problem with the propeller. This also marks the second consecutive day that Randy has not lost his luggage.

See also Travel Tales below!

Date/Time: 12 Dec 97 at 14:00 local time
Date/Time: 13 Dec 97 at 01:00 GMT
Location: Christchurch, New Zealand
Weather: mostly cloudy
Temperature: 16oC = 60.8oF
Barometric Pressure: 741.7 mm Hg = 29.2 inches Hg
GPS latitude: E 172:32:329'
GPS longitude: S 43:29:348'
GPS elevation: 67 meters

Go on to the
next day...

Dec 12th Travel Tales

Janice VanCleave: "We arrived at the clothing center at 7:15 am to dress in our polar gear for the flight. It didn't take me as long today to dress in this gear. After a short briefing and a film on safety, we boarded a bus which drove us to the plane. There were 29 passengers. The seating on the plane looks like the webbing on a lawn chair. We were all buckled up when a message was given that due to a small problem the flight was delayed. Next we were told to deplane so we could wait at the Passenger Receiving Center (PRC) while the problem was being solved. Back on the bus. But before arriving at the PDC, a message was received that the flight was canceled. We were returned to the plane to get our carry on items from the plane. RATS!!! Another delay.

The first flight cancellation on Thursday allowed Randy and I to tour parts of the south island of New Zealand with Bob Loewenstein, senior research assistant at the University of Chicago, and Bob's friend, Dennis Langton. Dennis is a youth counselor in Christchurch. South Island is beautiful. Some of the roads cut through flat pasture lands, while others wind around mountain sides with the ocean on one side and hills dotted with sheep on the other side.

After dark, Bob pointed out that the moon not only was upside down, but backwards. The man in the moon was upside down and the lighted part of the moon was on our left hand side. Check out the moon yourself. It should be waxing, meaning that it is getting larger each night. The lighted side of a waxing moon is on the right side in the Northern Hemisphere and on the left side in the Southern Hemisphere.

While having a second flight canceled is not what we wanted, we will have more time to tour the South Island and do more star gazing tonight. I wonder...Are any of the constellations here the same as in the Northern Hemisphere? If so, will they look the same? More later. Janice