So I said I would be keeping a blog while on the trip down, and it has to start somewhere so here is the beginning.  So far we have spent a number of days in Christchurch, and the surrounding areas, because we have been delayed.  This is both good and bad.  It is good, because more time spent in New Zealand is always welcome, it is a great place.  It is bad, because it inevitably means more work, and less time for the work, when we do arrive in Antarctica.