Sitting here in an office that overlooks Evans Bay, watching the
whitecaps dance across the waters driven on by a steady wind,
it is hard to believe that all this is real. Granted, the trip was
enough of an ordeal to erase any doubt from my mind that I had just
spent the past 30 hours travelling nearly 15,000km across land and sea
to reach this place, but when you travel by airplane, the journey
rarely eases you gracefully into your destination. Travel by train or
car makes your transition a far more gradual one. Small changes in
landscape, road signs and architecture all tell you that you are
approaching your destination. When travelling
by air, you walk into a
sealed tube at one end, eat food that tastes
pretty much the same no
matter where in the world you might be, and then step out of the tube
at your destination with all the shock of that first icy blast of
winter on a cold, December day.
What greeted me as I stepped off the plane in Auckland, New Zealand was
a marvelously carved entrance gate in the arrivals terminal that was
covered in Maori designs.
It was a truly remarkable piece of work and
certainly something completely unexpected. Immigration and customs
were not a problem although I did notice the Immigration agent's eyes
open a little more widely than usual as he read the work visa that had
been pasted to the inside of my passport. It reads "The holder may
work as a Smithsonian Project Participant for New Zealand Giant Squid
Expedition at any location". Somehow, I don't think that he gets too
many passports that cross his desk that say something like that!
Walking the kilometer from the International Arrivals terminal over to the Domestic flights terminal, even though it was still dark, I could tell that the trees and bushes that lined the walkway were mostly tropical in nature. Also, the air was filled with that moist, warm, sweet feeling that I so characterize the tropical Pacific.
The flight from Auckland south across the North Island towards Wellington was
marked by one fairly interesting experience. Soon after leaving
Auckland, we passed through a layer of clouds that all but completely
masked the ground below.
This seemingly unbroken blanket suddenly
developed a large opening, through which soared the flanks of what I
later learned was the very large active volcano called Mt. Ruapehu. In
the summer months it is possible to take guided tours up to visit the
Crater Lake, while in winter you can dine in New Zealand's highest
restaurant - the Knoll Ridge Cafe - overlooking the top of the volcano.
As we descended for our landing into Wellington, beneath the
right-hand wing I could make out what I believed must have been the
ferry that crosses Cook
Straight over to the South Island.....the same
ferry that we will be taking in a few days to begin our expedition to
Kaikoura Canyon.
Just as I gathered my bags and made my way outside the terminal, Steve
O'Shea and Clyde pulled up. Clyde jumped out of the car (thankfully he
waited until it stopped) and made me feel so incredibly welcome that
the tiredness of the journey just melted away. I hopped in the car and
Steve took off towards the NIWA lab. I have to admit that there was
more than one time during that trip, particularly when Steve had to
make a turn, that my heart stopped for a moment until I realized that
he was supposed to be driving on the left-hand side of the road.
Thankfully I have no intention of driving a car or bicycle for that
matter while I am down here so I can relax and leave those life and
death choices up to people who are comfortable with it. It was great
to see Ingrid again and we spent a
while getting caught up on what had
been going on both here in New Zealand and back in Washington.
With the help of a little telephone adapter and power cord that fit
perfectly into the wall outlet, I was back online in minutes without
the slightest problem. A quick e-mail to let everyone back home know
that I had made it safely and we were off for a tour of the NIWA
facility and for my first face to face (or should I say face to
tentacle) meeting with the giant squid.
regards,
gene
