14 January, 1998

Hello Everyone!

Well, we have made it from Houston to Christchurch, New Zealand!  Can
you follow my route on a map of the world?

We are waiting for the plane ride from Christchurch to McMurdo Station
in Antarctica.  We were supposed to fly out on Saturday, but the weather

in McMurdo is snowy and foggy, so it is not safe to land the planes
there. We are hoping to fly out tomorrow!

The weather in New Zealand is BEAUTIFUL!  It is summer here, so the
temperature has been in the 70's and the days have been very
looooooooooong.

We toured the west coast of South Island over the weekend.  We saw
glaciers and rain forests!  The west coast is very mountainous.  The
mountains block the rain, so the west coast is very wet!  On the other
side of the mountains, the land is dry, so there are no rain forests.

Tomorrow I will introduce my team mates who will be doing research in
Ross Sea with me!

Keep your fingers crossed that we will fly tomorrow!

E. Shackleton Bear