Home at last...

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted. No, I did not just get back from Antarctica - I made it back to the States on January 5. I finally made it out of Antarctica after being bumped from 2 flights. After leaving Antarctica, I got to spend 2 nights in New Zealand and I was actually able to do a little sight seeing. Me and 4 other people that I work with rented a car and drove to the Bank's Peninsula about an hour outside of Christchurch. This part of New Zealand is absolutely beautiful. Although Antarctica was very pretty, after nearly 2 months of seeing nothing but a white and gray landscape, this place could not have been more different - the differences were dramatic, and seeing green grass and trees again was unexpectedly exciting. The entire peninsula is the remnants of an extinct volcano. On the peninsula is the small village of Akaroa. This is one of the few French settlements in New Zealand, and the town still retains much of its French heritage. From Akaroa, we took a boat cruise of the harbor, where we saw dolphins, penguins and a lot of birds. I actually saw more penguins on this trip than I did the whole time I was in Antarctica. After the boat trip, we drove around up in the mountains and down to a couple of the beaches. Like I said before, it was absolutely beautiful - I could have spent a whole week there. Below are several pictures from my trip to Akaroa and Bank's Peninsula.

It looks like I will be going back to Antarctica this coming November. If so I will be sure and post some more pictures to this site. Also, I most likely will be going to Sweden to work for a few weeks in April/May. If that pans out, I will also be posting pictures of that. Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting! It made me feel a little more connected to home while being so far away.