Half an hour before my wake-up call there is a call saying that the flight is on hold. We'll be picked up for a 1000 meeting to either fly or to be issued more per-diem. Stay posted!
On the shuttle out to the USAP building we overhear the news that the flight has been scrubbed until tomorrow. We're issued new per-diem and, since Zondra hasn't had to return the rental car yet, we assemble 4 of us to do a day trip out on to the Banks Peninsula. It's supposed to be very pretty and is just on the other side of Lyttleton where we ate yesterday. Also good since it doesn't involve as much driving as that trip. Head out to Akoroa, a small town on the far side of the peninsula. The road leads through rolling grass-covered hills, but in places you can see large snags, stumps, and downed logs of the original forest cover. It must have been a very pretty place with a scattered forest--and still is. A few places show what can happen is sheep are excluded. I see one where there is an ungrazed area between the road edge and a fence line 30 feet or so away. The result is good regrowth of large shrubs that look a lot like chaparral in California, but no trees. I wonder if the pasture grasses are introduced, which wouldn't be uncommon.
Akoroa has the distinction of originally being a French settlement. I'm told that the settlement motivated the Brits to further their own colonization schemes. But lots of the buildings and streets have French names and I'm told that the local phone book is very strongly French.
We wandered around the island and near evening tried to return to Cheech via the ferry across the bay to Lyttleton, but it turned out that the ferry was for passengers only.
Back at the hotel we have a notice that we try again tomorrow and that the shuttles will pick us up at 0545. I'm definitely ready to get on with this. I hope the weather feels the same. The C-17 will be leaving a few hours after us with the next group of people. We've all been prioritized according to how they want to ramp up operations down there, so too many delays could be very disruptive. I'm told that the Air Force or Air National Guard that operates the C-17 may have a different set of operating parameters than the Australian firm that is to fly us in on the Airbus. It could lead to one plane being canceled and the other going in, depending on conditions. Complexities that no one would ever anticipate!
On the shuttle out to the USAP building we overhear the news that the flight has been scrubbed until tomorrow. We're issued new per-diem and, since Zondra hasn't had to return the rental car yet, we assemble 4 of us to do a day trip out on to the Banks Peninsula. It's supposed to be very pretty and is just on the other side of Lyttleton where we ate yesterday. Also good since it doesn't involve as much driving as that trip. Head out to Akoroa, a small town on the far side of the peninsula. The road leads through rolling grass-covered hills, but in places you can see large snags, stumps, and downed logs of the original forest cover. It must have been a very pretty place with a scattered forest--and still is. A few places show what can happen is sheep are excluded. I see one where there is an ungrazed area between the road edge and a fence line 30 feet or so away. The result is good regrowth of large shrubs that look a lot like chaparral in California, but no trees. I wonder if the pasture grasses are introduced, which wouldn't be uncommon.
Akoroa has the distinction of originally being a French settlement. I'm told that the settlement motivated the Brits to further their own colonization schemes. But lots of the buildings and streets have French names and I'm told that the local phone book is very strongly French.
We wandered around the island and near evening tried to return to Cheech via the ferry across the bay to Lyttleton, but it turned out that the ferry was for passengers only.
Back at the hotel we have a notice that we try again tomorrow and that the shuttles will pick us up at 0545. I'm definitely ready to get on with this. I hope the weather feels the same. The C-17 will be leaving a few hours after us with the next group of people. We've all been prioritized according to how they want to ramp up operations down there, so too many delays could be very disruptive. I'm told that the Air Force or Air National Guard that operates the C-17 may have a different set of operating parameters than the Australian firm that is to fly us in on the Airbus. It could lead to one plane being canceled and the other going in, depending on conditions. Complexities that no one would ever anticipate!
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