Day 36: Cruisin the Harbour

Good morning last day of the study abroad trip! Today began about 8:30am with another great breakfast in the Wesley cafeteria. I met up with Anoop, Jay, and Reel, and we decided we would to head out for the 11:00am tour about 9:30am.

I finished breakfast a little after 9:00am and went back up to my room to finish getting ready for the day. The four of us headed out in the rain from Wesley right at 9:30am. We had to walk a block or so to get to a street with taxis. Anoop hailed the first open one that came by and we all climbed in. Initially we wanted to save a cab fare and take the train, but with all the rain a long walk to the train station would have been miserable. The taxi drive lasted about 20-30 minutes and we were dropped off right at the front door of the Ausgrid Learning Centre.

We were a tad early (It was only 10:22am) so we decided to walk down the street and find a cafe for a coffee. We walked to the end of the street, but no coffee shops were within sight so we headed back to the learning centre. It was still before 11:00am, but we decided to go ahead and check in with the receptionist where we received our visitor badges. The receptionist paged Aaron, who sent down his assistant, Ron, who would be taking us on the tour. Ron came down to greet us, but needed a few minutes to get ready to show us around. He took us to the Learning Centre cafe (ironically enough!) and Anoop, Reel, Jay, and I ordered a drink while we waited on Ron to return.

About 10 minutes later Ron came back and he sat down at the table to go over the building briefly before taking the tour. Here are some details of the Ausgrid Learning Centre:

• One of only two 6 Star Green Star Performance rated buildings in Australia
• It is a learning center for electrical journeymen and apprentices, contractors, and even the general public
• Built using mostly recycled rock, brick, steel, and clay (pavers).
• All wiring in the building is recycled wire.
• No paint was used as an interior finish to provide a better quality of indoor air/environment.
• No ceilings in any spaces, only baffles to mute sound. (Picture below)
• 150,000L rainwater water tank for toilets, fire, and watering the gardens
• Tri-generation system
• Solar Panel arrays to generate energy for hot water
• Ground heat rejection system that takes water 90m deep and brings it back up at exactly 22.5 degrees Celsius. This water is run through the concrete floor slabs at night to maintain the building temperature and during the day it is used in the A/C unit for refrigeration.
• Tri-generation system is 70% efficient, with the other 30% of the building's electrical needs supplied by the grid.
• Electric car park areas in the parking garage
• Efficiency Centre that teaches visitors how to be more energy efficient (shorter showers, turn off lights, energy saving light bulbs, use electricity during non-peak hours). This is part of a huge initiative the Learning Centre undertakes to educate the public about using and living around electricity.
• Glass windows are also louvers and open (via motion detectors in rooms) to allow the rooms to naturally ventilate instead of using A/C. Supplemental A/C is provided to rooms, but used as a back-up to the ventilation system.

Those are some quick facts Ron went over with us before taking us on the tour to see the building. The tour basically covered the points above, but I took plenty of pictures. Many parts of the building were more like a museum (particularly the Efficiency Centre) with old artifacts of the electrical industry in Australia and interactive displays. Here are a few shots of the features of the building:

The Ausgrid Learning Centre

Furniture made from hardwood of recycled telephone poles

Window louvers on facade of building

Cutaway sample of the water piping through floor slab

Diagram of the different systems of the building (sorry for the small image)

Old meters where you had to use money or a credit card to purchase electricty

Original Ford Model T electrician work vehicle

Original Ausgrid Uniform

My thermal image. The red means I'm still kickin'!

This display shows different types of light bulbs and their efficiencies and life. LED is the winner, on the right end.

Interactive display that allows you to increase or decrease the amount of light. The light line shows the light needed for certain tasks.

Ground Heat Rejection Pipes

Electric Car charging station

Solar PV System on the roof. (Ironic cloudy day)

Room with natural lighting (cloudy day) coming through the window louvers.

Close-up shot of the window louvers.

Roof Garden

Exterior walkway on 2nd floor that is sloped slightly to allow for rainwater recapture.

No ceilings, just baffles to muffle sound.

Top view of water running through slabs and A/C system

Work Stations for Students

Outside work stations.

I was thoroughly impressed by the sustainable innovations of the building. Ron showed us everything he could for over two hours and I think everyone enjoyed the tour. No doubt that this building will work perfectly as a case study for my thesis! Ron gave us business cards so we can contact him at a later date back in Auburn and we headed back to the front desk to turn in our visitor badges.

The receptionist called a cab for us and after a 15 minute wait the cab finally showed up. (He had trouble finding the place...) On the way back to the University of Sydney, Anoop and I stopped briefly to pick up a take away order for a kebab and coke. We jumped back in the cab and were dropped off a few minutes later at Wesley. Anoop and I ate in the cafeteria before parting ways back up to our rooms.

It was about 2:30pm when I got back to my room, so I gave Brittany a call and we were able to have our devo and talk for a good while. We finished talking just before 4:00pm and I proceeded to take a shower and relax before the evening's activities. Since tonight would be our last night as a group in Sydney, Anoop had booked a harbour cruise for the group. The cruise happened to also serve dinner, so I decided to dress up in a blazer and khaki pants for the occasion.

We met downstairs as a group at 5:30pm and Anoop told everyone to get to Darling Harbour by 6:30pm for the cruise. Some folks took taxis, but I rode a bus most of the way there because I had a bus pass. It took forever for the bus to get through downtown Sydney, but I eventually got off and walked over to Darling Harbour and arrived right at 6:30pm. It turned out not to be a huge rush, as the cruise didn't leave until 7:00pm, so we waited as a group along the harbor to board. Here's a look at our cruise boat:

Magistic Cruises

Just after 7:00pm we were allowed to board and we all filed in to the dining area and mingled around waiting for departure. We departed about 7:15pm and that is also when the buffet line opened. I walked up to the buffet and decided to be brave and try some new food. Dinner consisted of prawns, oysters, several pasta salads, Waldorf salad, and rice. I had never had a prawn (shrimp) prepared this way or an oyster, but they were pretty good. The second course was desert which consisted of a variety of small desert cakes. The final course was cheese, crackers, and grapes intended to go along with the wine folks were drinking, but I enjoyed the food with coke instead.

Dinner finished around 8:30pm at which time I headed up to the top deck to enjoy the setting sun and views of Sydney. It was really peaceful here and the scenery provided a nice time to reflect on our wonderful trip. I took some photos of the Harbour, too:

The Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge

Harbour Bridge with cruise ship sailing underneath

Sydney!

The Harbour Bridge at night!

The evening gradually came to a close as the ship brought us back to Darling Harbour and docked about 10:00pm. The evening had been nice and relaxing and we hung out as a group in the Harbour for awhile before heading back to Wesley. I got back to my room and I was pretty tired. Everyone else had to catch flights in the morning, but I would be heading across town to the Bayswater Hotel so I decided to put off packing til morning.

I have had a simply wonderful time studying abroad in Australia and New Zealand. The next two days will most likely drag as I am ready to come home now, but I plan to enjoy them in Sydney all the same. Hopefully groups of students from Auburn University will keep coming to Australia and New Zealand for many years. I have had a grand adventure Down Under and, thanks to this blog, I will remember it for years to come!

Day 35: Work Day at Wesley

Today began around 8:30am when I woke up from my overnight slumber. I took a shower (another hot, sweaty night without air-conditioning), and decided to give the Ausgrid switchboard a call. After going through the automated portion of the switchboard I was finally answered by a live person who easily transferred me to Aaron Russell. I hoped he would answer his phone (I don't have a direct number and switchboard is a pain...) and he did so on the second ring! I briefly explained to him who I was and what our research is geared towards (I'm getting good at doing this...) and asked him if it was possible to set up a tour of the Ausgrid Learning Centre. Aaron was wonderfully accommodating to the proposition and after about a 2 minute conversation, I had a tour booked for 11:00am tomorrow!

After the successful phone call, I decided to celebrate with some breakfast in the Wesley cafeteria. Breakfast was the usual cereal and juice, but I was able to tell Anoop about the tour so nothing else would be planned for tomorrow morning. After breakfast I went back upstairs and started looking at some "cheap" hotels in the Syndey area that could provide accommodations for me on Thursday and Friday nights. After calling home and talking with my mom and dad, we decided to go with the Bayswater Hotel Sydney. I booked online and I was glad to have those details worked out finally.

Shortly after making the reservations, Brittany and I were able to have our devo over Skype. I really enjoyed our talk and I am also looking forward to getting back to Auburn to see her again. Australia has been a blast, but I'm ready to come home.

We finished our chat and I began to work on a few blogs. Some folks were heading back to Manly Beach, but it was pretty overcast and windy so I decided to stay at Wesley and get some work done. I posted a few blogs and took a break about 4:00pm to complete the temporary structures assignment for Auckland. The afternoon flew by as I worked on the computer and before I knew it my stomach was growling - dinner time! I still had more work to do, but took a break and walked down to Subway for a sandwich and picked up a Dr. Pepper at a convenience store. (I think I've found and memorized all the Dr. Pepper locations in Sydney!) I took a few photos while I was out and about:

Park by the University of Sydney at dusk

Wesley College

Left side of Wesley College (dusk)

Right side of Wesley college (dusk)

Back in the room after dinner, I continued to blog. About 9:45pm, I heard some drums and after listening for few seconds I thought it might be a drumline. (Odd time of night for drums to be playing, I know.) Needing some fresh air, I left my blogging to go out and see if I could find where the drum sound was coming from. I hadn't been outside 10 minutes looking around when rain began to fall. The drums had stopped playing almost as soon as I left Wesley, so I decided just to walk back before I got completely soaked.

I dried off with a towel in the room before sitting back down to work some more on my blog. I didn't work much longer though (I had been in front of a computer almost all day) before calling it a night. Today had definitely been productive, but I wanted to be well rested for my last day with the group in Australia!

Day 34: The Sydney Opera House

Today started off around 9:00am and I felt well rested (finally). The night had been rather miserable without air-conditioning, but I slept well all the same. Wesley provides breakfast, so I went down to the cafeteria and ate some cereal, fruit, and juice to get prepared for the day.

After breakfast I went back up to my room on the third floor and Brittany was online, so we were able to have our devo and conversation over skype. We didn't talk too long (Bee had to go to work), so I had some more free time before meeting as a group at noon. I decided to spend the next 45 minutes trying to get in contact with the Ausgrid Learning Centre, a 6 Star building here in Sydney that will hopefully work well with my thesis. I never could find any phone number for the building, but Ausgrid is the electricity provider for Australia, so I was able to find a number for the switchboard. The switchboard operator wasn't sure who to put me in contact with for a tour of the building and after connecting me to two different people (both of whom were out of the office until mid-February), stopped answering my calls. (Oh well...)

Unsure about how things were going to work out with the Learning Centre, I went downstairs to meet up with the group right at noon. We left Wesley and caught a bus that took us down near Circular Quay where the Sydney Opera House rests. We arrived at the Quay about 12:30pm, but our tour didn't start until 1:15pm so everyone decided to grab a quick bite of lunch. We walked around and eventually came across a food court area. I stopped in a convenience store along the way and found a Dr. Pepper (Yes!), before ordering some Honey Chicken at one of the Chinese restaurants. The meal was pretty good, especially for only A$9.50.

We ate fairly quickly and then made the short walk down the harbour to the Opera House for the tour. Once we arrived on the steps of the Opera House, it took us a few minutes to locate our tour meeting point which ended up being downstairs in the basement. Our guide was there and she had headphones for everyone to wear during the tour so she wouldn't have to yell for folks to hear.

The tour was pretty interesting. Our guide took us through some of the performance theaters and it was really cool to see the different styles of staging and seating arrangements. The seats in each theater have been engineered to soak up sound as if a person was sitting in the chair. This feature allows the performers to get a good feel during dress rehearsal what things will sound like during the performance. Even if the entire auditorium doesn't sell out, the sound of the show is not affected. Also, this design provides the sound operators with the ability to ensure people in the back have the same quality sound experience as those sitting in the middle or front. We also watched three videos during the tour that explained the design and construction of the Opera House. Basically, the design of the building was a global contest and hundreds of designs were submitted from architects all over the world. The design selected came from a young Danish architect. Ironically enough, a Finnish-American judge who was late to the judging pulled the Danish architect's design out from a pile of designs that had already been discarded. The rules of the contest had been broken, but nevertheless the Danish architect's designs were accepted. The next challenge came with the construction of the building. Nobody knew how or if the building could be built. Site work actually began well before the engineers had figured out how to build the design. After a couple of years, the secret to building the sloping roof design was found by cutting parts from a sphere and putting them together. A "rib" design was developed to keep the walls tall and thin. Finally, after 16 years of construction, the Sydney Opera House was completed. Here are some pictures from the tour:

Headphones for the tour

Outside the Sydney Opera House

The round pieces of wood break up sound to keep sound from echoing noisily in the foyers.

"Ribbed" Arches of the Opera House

The ribs sprout from a single origin

Bay front of the Opera House designed to look like a cruise ship hull.

The tour lasted about an hour, but I enjoyed it. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the auditoriums for copyright reasons, but they were spectacular as well. The group left the Opera House and several folks decided to take a walk around town for the remainder of the afternoon. We went in tons of outdoor stores, but we did visit a few others. My favorite was the Apple store. There were iPads and MacBooks everywhere that you could play games on and have an interactive experience with the Apple products. The store was a bit futuristic in design, but the staircase was really cool:

Solid glass step stairs with a stainless steel frame

We continued to walk around and I happened to look up at one of the buildings and saw the name "Ausgrid" on the top. Hopeful that I might find a lead for a tour of their Learning Centre, I went inside and made an inquiry about who to talk to for tours of the Learning Centre. The receptionist acted really weird about contacting the folks at the Learning Centre before finally giving me a piece of paper with a name on it. ("I'm not allowed to give you his number.") A name was good enough for me though, so I left with a plan to call the switchboard and ask to be transferred directly to Aaron Russell. I walked about a block to catch up with the group and we continued to walk around for another hour or so before retiring to some tables around Circular Quay. Some folks bought drinks, but it was a fairly hot and humid day so I went and purchased some Baskin Robins ice cream. I wasn't fond of the price, but it was good all the same.

The afternoon began to turn towards dinner time, so we left our tables and walked up the street and went to a restaurant advertising A$10.00 steaks. (The steak was a good size, but it didn't have much flavor and took some time to chew.) Once we had eaten our meal, everyone felt like heading back to Wesley for some rest. I took a bus and got back to my room about 7:45pm. I checked Facebook before taking a nap. (I didn't exactly mean to do this.) When I woke up, I was extremely surprised to read 11:44pm on my phone clock. I didn't feel like doing any work and it was too late to do anything else, so I just rolled back over and went to sleep for the night.

Day 33: Welcome Home, Sydney!

Today began more or less as a continuation of my overnight stay in the International Terminal of the Christchurch Airport. I woke up from my doze around 3:45am to find several other folks in the group waking up. We spent the next 45 minutes or so trying to stay awake, as the domestic part of the airport would reopen at 4:30am. 4:30am was also the time when we could pick our bags up and check-in for our flight to Auckland at 6:40am.

4:30am eventually came and we walked over to the domestic terminal. We had no problems retrieving our bags from storage and after a quick rearrangement of heavy items to my larger backpack, I headed off in the direction of the JetStar counter. The only documentation I had for my flight was my passport, which I didn't think would work well, but I was too tired to care. Thankfully my baggage weight was OK and without any questions the representative handed me my boarding pass. (That's the easiest dealing I've ever had with JetStar.)

I proceeded through security without any issues, found the right gate, and took the liberty of taking several seats to sleep on for the next hour. This hour of sleep was definitely the best of the entire night and I woke up a few minutes before the plane started boarding. The flight to Auckland only took an hour, but I don't remember anything between takeoff and landing, as I slept the entire time.

At the Auckland airport, I retrieved my bags from baggage claim and picked up a dolly to roll my luggage around. (The dollies are free here!) I quickly found a comfortable seat outside of McDonald's and proceeded to take a gloriously refreshing 3-hour nap. When I woke up, a couple of folks were headed down the domestic terminal to find some other members of the group to see if anyone was ready to head over to the international terminal. (We had a 4:15pm international flight back to Sydney.) About the time we found the rest of the group, the professors' plane had landed and they came over and met us for the walk over to the international terminal. They looked much more well-rested, but then again they missed out on the fantastic airport accommodations.

My nap outside of McDonald's had definitely refreshed me, so I decided to grab some lunch at Subway when we arrived at the International Terminal. We still had a couple hours before we could check-in for our flight to Sydney, so I took the time to eat lunch and have devo with Brittany over the phone. Most of the group took over a large corner at one of the cafes, so after lunch and devo I joined them and tried to iron out some details with Delta and Southwest concerning my flight back home in a few days. I had erroneously thought our study abroad trip ended on the 4th, but it actually ends on February 2nd. Basically, that means that my scheduled flight home is 2 days late and so I was looking at the price difference between a two night stay in a hotel in Sydney vs. fees for changing two long distance flights. The fees to change flights totaled at $488, so I decided 2 more nights in Sydney would be significantly less expensive...

Finally, the time came when we could check-in with JetStar for our flight to Sydney. I was particularly excited about this check-in experience, as it would be my last one (hopefully forever) with JetStar! Thankfully, this check-in went smoothly like the past couple and I proceeded through security. However, I did notice a sign at the check-in counter that warned folks against "verbal and physical abuse." How sad is it that JetStar actually has to put a sign out to protect their employees from discontented folks? Sad for both the customers and JetStar, really.

Behind security, I walked around with Anoop through the different shops to see if anything was worth buying. There were neat items for sale, but just like in the States, everything was ridiculously over-priced. We continued our wait, as we had checked in so early that our flight did not even have an assigned gate. Eventually a gate number showed up on the screens and we walked down to the gate, still an hour or so away from departure.

At the gate, Steele shared some TimTam cookies with everyone and Anoop's wife mentioned that she read they are used as straws in coffee. Everyone was curious how this worked, so I ran back to the cafe and bought a small coffee to try it out. I bit off two corners of the cookie and proceeded to use the cookie like a straw. It actually worked! The coffee gave the cookie a great flavor, but the coffee was so hot that the cookie melted in my hand. I'm not sure I like drinking coffee this way, but the coffee flavor definitely enhanced the quality of the TimTam cookie!

We were finally able to board and before long we were off the ground on a 2 hour, 40 minute flight to Sydney! I tried to sleep again, but I was wedged in the middle of the seats so it was almost impossible to get comfortable. The flight was also turbulent, which may not bother some folks, but my sinuses were still packed and the end result had me feeling carsick well before we landed.

After an hour descent into Sydney, we landed and I was thoroughly relieved to get off the back of the plane. Customs took about 15 minutes and soon I was able to get some food. McDonald's was the best option, so I purchased a burger and a coke to eat while Anoop visited Vodafone to recharge everyone's SIM card.

Recharges purchased, we all piled into 2 maxi taxis and headed off to Wesley College at the University of Sydney once again! Walking up to Wesley College, it felt like we were coming home. Perhaps this is due to the fact we started our trip here, but it was a neat feeling. We were each given a new room and about 6:30pm I was finally able to take a much needed shower. (It had been awhile!) Before we went up to our rooms, several folks tried to re-enact their exact location the first day we landed in Sydney. Here are some photos:

Jason and Will

Ben, Brooke, Matt, and Emily

Andrew, Stu, Megan, and Patrick

After a refreshing shower, a good number of us headed off to get kebabs for dinner. I got the lamb kebab plate which turned out to be pretty tasty. While we ate, we watched Djokovic and Nadal battle for the Australian Open Championship! (Djokovic ended up winning in just under 6 hours - the longest finals match in the history of the Australian Open.) Properly nourished, I headed off to find some Robitussin to cure a cough that had developed during my stay at the airports. I found some at the grocery store and walked back to Wesley.

I had intentions of working on my blog, but after taking some Robitussin, I decided it was time to sleep. It was only 10:00pm, but I needed some sleep in an actual bed. Even the non-air-conditioned bowels of Wesley provided a better night's sleep than the Christchurch Airport...

Day 32: A Living Ghost Town

I woke up today around 8:30am, showered, and packed my bags for our 9:30am departure to Christchurch. I finished with this around 9:00am, so I headed down to McDonalds to get some breakfast that I could take with me on the road and also visited the ATM. I grabbed an egg sandwich, a hashbrown, and an orange juice before walking back up the road to hop in our rented bus.

I was still feeling the effects of sinus problems, but overall our drive was quite lovely. Our chauffeur was an older man named Alan (Alan! Alan! Wait, that's not Alan. that's Steve. Steve! Steve! Steve!) who was a great tour guide. Our journey to Christchurch would take 6 hours, but Alan kept us in the "know" about the mountains and small towns we passed by. We passed several glacier fed lakes that New Zealand has dammed up and currently uses to create hydroelectric power. Here's a look at some of these awesome lakes:

Glacier-fed lakes at the foot of the mountains.

Mt. Cook is in the distance, covered by a rain cloud...

Our journey also led us through an outdoor wedding at a small chapel beside one of the lakes. I was all for inquiring about the reception, but instead we kept going. I did snap a quick picture though:

Room for 12 more at the reception?

We continued for several more hours, stopping in a small town that happens to hold the world championships of hang gliding. I took several more pictures along the way of the New Zealand countryside. Here's a look:

Rolling mountains out the bus window

The road kept winding on ahead of us

Mountains, mountains everywhere!

We finally arrived at the Christchurch Airport around 4:00pm and proceeded to the JetStar counter. Our flight back to Auckland did not leave for another 14 hours and 40 minutes, but we all needed to up our baggage allowance (again...). Our biggest fear was that we had missed the 24 hour deadline that is in the fine print, so we were not too hopeful that we would be given the normal rate for checked baggage. However, God managed to pull us through again and the JetStar representative was accommodating and allowed everyone to add 20kg at the regular price. (Still not Southwest where bags fly free, but I'll take minimum hassle any day.) It was still ridiculously early for check-in, so we stored our bags in the storage room at the airport for $10 apiece. We asked the JetStar representative where we might be able to stay in the airport overnight and she remarked "Oh! In the international terminal. Everyone sleeps in there!" Thankful to have a place to stay and our luggage properly stowed away, we headed out to find maxi taxi to take us into town.

We found a maxi taxi easily and as we began to pull away, the driver of course asked us where we wanted to go. Nobody had really planned this far, so we just told her to take us to a nice cheap place to eat close to the City Centre. For those of you who are unaware, the City of Christchurch and the surrounding communities were hit by a 6.3 earthquake last year on February 22, 2011 which was not long after a 7.1 earthquake hit on September 4, 2010. Between the two earthquakes and the subsequent aftershocks, the entire Christchurch community has been devastated and thousands of people have left the disaster prone area for good. (38,000 left initially and only around 28,000 have returned) Back to the day's events, our taxi driver thought of a good place to eat, but totally missed the "cheap" criteria. The place she dropped us off at was called Speights (Pronounced like you would pronounce the word "spades," except with a 't' so phonetically you get "spates.") which served a variety of neat (and expensive) food. The prices immediately stole my appetite, so I spent the afternoon chilling on the patio and enjoying the sun.

After the pit stop, we took off on a walk in the direction of the City Centre which supposedly was damaged the worst by the earthquakes and has been shut down completely. Barricades prevent anyone from getting hear the damage. As we approached the area, Christchurch appeared to turn into a ghost town. No cars, no people, hundreds of vacant high rise buildings, and many lots with rubble stacked neatly in a corner. A few guardsmen stood watch. Here are some pictures of the damage we could see: (Note: The worst of the damage was not viewable.)

If you look closely you can see the street is not level and the buildings are not plumb...

Looking behind the barricade

There used to be a church on this corner. All that survived was the Bell Tower. The rubble is piled in the back.

The gap on the facade of this building is not an architectural feature.

About the only building attempting to rebuild...

As we walked around, everything seemed completely deserted. We finally came across a park that had a Buskers Festival (street performers) going on, so we popped in for a gander. Outside the park I was finally able to capture a charming picture of the city. Here's a look at the park entrance:

Charming foot bridge into Hagley Park in Christchurch

The Buskers Festival was one of the most unique things I have ever experienced. Before I went into a show, I grabbed a hug bratwurst hot dog and coke (only NZD $9!). I was "uniqued-out" after a very short time (I finished my food and decided to head for the gate.) The event was advertised as a family atmosphere, but that must have ended before we arrived. Anyway, I left the show with Andrew and Emily and we headed over to another area of the festival to grab a cookie. The cookie was astronomically better than the performances and when we returned to the group, everyone had had their fill of Busker comedy.

We left the park in a dilemma. It was only 10:15pm and we had nowhere to go but the airport. A few folks wanted to find a nearby cinema, but no good movies were showing and everyone was "spent" as far as money and energy goes. We decided to call a cab to come meet us and take us back to the airport. The ride was fairly short and we walked into the international arrival terminal to find about 50 new friends sprawled out on the floor asleep.

I laid down on the floor, but it was almost no use finding a comfortable position. After the first 3 times I finally managed to get comfortable, an airport manger walked over to me and told me I had to move. They finally gave me a rules sheet, but I was tired and irritated and I didn't listen to the short guy with Napoleon's short man syndrome tell me that there would be "no mucking around." (As if I cared to "muck around" in the airport.) I left the sheet on the chairs that told me not to make a tent, hang up laundry to dry, use a gas cooker, sleep on the floor, lay down on the chairs, or use a sleeping bag (As if I had any of those things hidden in my laptop bag.). I'm sure the manager will need it again tomorrow night.

I walked over to the hotel bookings area to see what a hotel would cost for 6 hours, but found it way out of my budget ($180 for 1 queen bed for 1 night). I finally chose to sit upright in a chair and enjoy my comfortable stay in the Christchurch Airport. I must say I am better for the experience as far as my adventures abroad go, but I'm not in any hurry to press the replay button in the future.

Sometime around midnight I managed to fall asleep for the longest time (a little over 3 hours), so I will end my blog about today here. Today and tomorrow have literally run together. Thankfully I get to separate them between blogs!