Last planned full day in CHCH

Woke up early. Impossible to find a coffee before ten in the morning here. I was able to walk around a bit before heading to orientation.

I noticed that all of the roofing here is done with either clay or metal cladding. Allot of modern houses with sharp angled roofs. This neighborhood  off of Papui street is very green and there is the occasional 60 foot high tree with paper smooth bark. I do not know its name. Many of the homes are missing their chimneys due to the earth quake.

Our orientation and clothing disbursement was pretty routine. I scored some heavy duty FDX "Frankenstein" boots. The name fits. Every one is excited and the veterans had plenty of advice and were happy to answer all the "newbies" questions. Our group that deploys tomorrow has allot of carpenter apprentices and only a handful of people hired on as full carpenters. I was glad to learn that the other carpenters come from a vary wide variety of backgrounds. We have some wood worker types, some contractor types, some indoor reno types. When you get us all together we will have a pretty wide range of experiences and ideas to draw on.

I was lucky, it took me a while to find a good fit in the cold weather boots. I missed the shuttle carrying the larger part of the group and caught a ride on one taking a gentleman out to his house on the beach. The driver asked if I wouldn't mind taking the long road and I obliged. We looped around the city to avoid traffic and went past the public beaches. The coast reminded me of north west Florida. The water was deep blue and dunes mostly hid the sea from the road. The dunes were covered spiky brush and palm trees. As we looped back through the city the driver went through some of the wetland parks and more agricultural areas for my benefit. The views of the orchards and wooded areas were framed by the Southern Alps. The mountains themselves are brownish green and have little, if any, snow capping them this close to the city.

We are off early tomorrow  My wake up call is for three thirty, we get picked up at four thirty, repack our gear at the USAP center with the expedition bags, and then wait for our flight. I was hoping for the Hercules but have been assigned to the Airbus. All things considered that is probably a more comfortable, and shorter, flight.

Next post, barring bad weather, will be from the ice!