Approaching New Zealand

February 18, 1994

This morning was very foggy, and I almost despaired of seeing New Zealand at all. We were delayed in sending off the helicopter to fetch the customs agents from Lyttelton because of the fog, so I watched the New Zealand Antarctic Program presentation, which was mostly just three short videos shot for the purposes of letting prospective NZAP personnel know what they were getting into. I picked up a printed version of the NZAP science program, to complement the ASCII version I found on the Internet.

My first glimpses of New Zealand (around 11:30am) were through haze and fog. I could see just enough to realize that it was probably gorgeous, and that I wasn't seeing any of it. It was extremely frustrating.

Dense fog on approaching New Zealand

When they called us down to the Ambassador Lounge to go through the New Zealand customs procedures, I had to wait in line for about 20 minutes. Through the windows, I could see that we'd left the fog, and were entering Lyttelton. It was all I could do to keep myself from leaving the line and going up on deck to see the sights.

By a million to one probability, (much less, I know, but it did seem amazing), the one customs agent I was processed by (out of four) happened to notice that my birthday was today. He shook my hand, and then told me that his birthday was today also! That was pretty amazing...

You may continue the story with our arrival at Lyttelton, or return to today's table of contents.