R&R and stuff

This is my 100th post!  I couldn't have done it without you all, well I guess I could have made that many posts, but I couldnt have gotten to 1,900 views without you guys. Yay!

 Well hello everyone. I'm back from my little rest off the ice and I dont really want to be back. I really miss "civilization" and I can't wait to get back home. Oh well it's only like 8 more months, I think I'll live.  I didn't really do a whole lot while I was gone, it was just nice to be away from here and have a room to myself!  I did do a bunch of walking around but I wasn't really thinking about taking pics so I don't have as many pics to show you as I would have liked, sorry bout that.

We didn't end up taking off until 6pm, so by the time we got there, got our bags, cleared customs, and goto the hotel it was 1am, so it was a waste of that first day really.  After we landed and they opened the door the first thing I noticed was the darkness.  It's amazing how easily you can get used to something if you have to, up until then the 24/7 daytime had just become part of the norm.  The moon was so bright and beautiful, it was amazing!  The other thing that I hadn't realized I was going to miss but I did is pavement and sidewalks. It's nice to have something smooth and flat to walk on. Oh and when we landed it was 57 glorious degrees outside and only slightly breezy. Did I mention it was glorious outside? If the weather had lips I would have kissed it right on the smacker!

On that second day I walked all over the entire country, or at least it seemed like it. I went and checked out the Botanical Gardens which was awesome.  I saw some ducks and some doggies, I even saw some kids that I didn't hate just by their existence, Hahaha. I also stopped and picked up some booze for the winter.  I didn't end up getting as much as I had intended, so I'll just workout more instead of drink more. I did decide to get drunkdicated(yes, its a word, look it up) and wander the streets of Christchurch at like 1am, and I didn't even get arrested or anything.

The rest of the time I pretty much just walked around the city and hung out in the hotel.  It was so nice having a room all to myself after living with 3 other people all this time. I can't wait until I get my winter room! Oh, I almost forgot to tell you that it rained a couple times while I was there, it was amazing!

I was supposed to leave on Thursday but the plane was apparently broken in Auckland so we had a 24hr delay. I was perfectly happen to spend an extra day getting paid to roam around. Woohooo!  I got word late afternoon on Thursday that we were scheduled to fly out the next morning. The shuttle was going to be there at 4am! :( I was going to have to get up at 3:30 so I just said screw it and stayed awake all night in hopes that maybe I'd be able to sleep the flight away. I usually have trouble sleeping when I fly but I did manage about 3 hours.

The plane we were going back on was a 757, so I was pretty excited to be able to see out the windows and see a little more of Antarctica from the air. On our way from the terminal out to the bus they handed everyone cards with their assigned seat on the plane.  Mine was 23A, someone said that "A" is a window seat so I was stoked! I got on board and all settled in my seat and what did I see on the window shade?  A sticker stating "CAUTION: This window shade has been disabled. Do not slide up." FUCK! There were only about 5 of us coming in for winter. The rest of the plane was filled with military folks.  There are Navy personnel to help with the cargo offload. Also the Army Corp of Engineers sent 40 people to setup a "modular causeway system" for the offload since we don't have an ice pier this year.

Today was my first day being essentially alone. Yesterday was the last working day for all my co-workers except my supervisor who leaves the 20th. So very soon I'll be all by my lonesome, yay!

Sorry I had to pause right there, I realized it was only 10 minutes until they were going to blow up the ice pier so I ran down there. It was awesome! Naturally I've got a video below.

Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled program...

Waiting in line to get on Ivan for a little trip out to the runway...

 On "Ivan" waiting to go, it's an hour trip out to the runway now that the ice runway is water. 1:45pm

 5:30, finally!  Lets go!

 Not the same one I flew on before, I checked the number, hahaha.  It's windy and cold, hurry up and get on...

Of course I'd be sitting right next to the door they left open for 20 minutes while the wind was blowing in!  Come on lets kick this pig already!

 Yay, we's on the way now!

 DUDE!  That is a shitload of dark!  Who turned out the lights?

 The luggage carts are free at the airport, hell yeah.  OH, and shortly after this we were standing at the baggage claim waiting for our shit.  One of the customs ladies was walking around with a dog sniffing peoples luggage. I didn't think anything about it so I just went about my business until the dog alerted to my stuff! I know I don't have any drugs or anything so I was a little concerned.  It turns out the dog is looking for plant material like fruits and vegetables.  I didn't have anything but I do remember squishing a banana in the pocket of my parka like a month ago. I thought I cleaned it all up but apparently the dog smelled my banana residue. They didn't lock me up and throw away the key but, she did stamp my arrival card. So I thought for sure I was in for a rectal ride on the latex express.  Luckily both me and my stink box left fully unviolated...

 I ate the shit out of a "fat bastard" burger here, it was delicious...

This is some of the damage from the earthquake that happened last February...

 It was a 6.3 magnitude quake that killed 185 people...

 It turns out that there was actually a 3.2 magnitude earthquake while I was there late on Tuesday night.  I didn't feel anything but that would have been when I was pretty drunk so maybe I did feel it and just didn't realize it.  They also closed the mall today that I had gone shopping in a couple days ago because of "issues with the building’s structural integrity.".  Atleast it didn't fall down while I was in it, hahaha.

 Duck flyin solo...

More duckiesssss...

 The branches on this guy were really weird, like flat-ish...

 This one is for all the ladies I will ever love ;)

 This is, in fact, the Roger Duff Wing, of...ya know...this building...

All this stuff was in the Canterbury Museum...

Hehehe, it says douche...

Steady boy...

I think all this stuff was a recreation of Christchurch from back in the day, ya know the day I'm talking about...

 Everything was behind glass so I couldnt use the flash, so some of the pics are a little dark...

 Biggest tap and die set I ever did see...

 Woohoo, lets do this thing...

 They had an Antarctic history section...

 Meteorites found in Antarctica

 Hahaha, I've seen all their living relatives...

Mmmmmm, plums, nectarines, and bananas, oh my!  That tiny ass thing of strawberries was $5.90!  I almost didn't get it and then I realized they'd be the last strawberries I'd have the chance to eat in a long time so I ate em up and they were delicious...

 There seemed to be roses bushes everywhere.  I literally stopped and smelled the roses...

 This was out the bathroom window, when I looked closer I saw...

 This!  Wtf, ok so I'm fat but that's a lot of trouble to goto just to rub it in, dicks...

 This is on my 1am drunken trek down to the McDonalds that "is open 24 hours".  I have never been somewhere so dead, I didn't see a single person on the mile walk there and back. Crazy. Of course I didn't know at the time there had just been an earthquake, maybe they were all hiding in there houses, maybe I should have been too, but I was drunk, nothing can hurt you when you're drunk...

 Yeah, Open 24 hours if you have a car, damn it!

I've never seen a grocery store in the mall before. This is what is now closed...

 I dont know what a "tick" is but they got it...

This hand dryer will dry the shit out of your hands. I guess Dyson knows how to move air really well...

 I don't swing that way...

 That was NOT there the night before, but I didn't do it as far as I know.

 Figures, right?!

 Transport courtesy of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, thanks for the lift, next time put me near a window I can look out of...

These pics are from today...

 I checked out one of the electric vehicles today, very comforting...

 The people standing around waiting to watch them blow the ice pier, video to follow...

Our ride outta the freezer...

Prettyyyy....

MTV Cribs and shit...

Since the ice pier is worthless they blasted to separate it from the shore and they're going to tow it out to sea basically.  It was LOUD but that doesnt come across on the video very well.  My job rules...