A Day In Christchurch, New Zealand

ONN's Meteorologist Harrison Hove is on his way to Antarctica.

Harrison applied for and received a grant from the National Science Foundation to travel to Antarctica to report on the several Ohioans doing research near the South Pole. Each day Hove will share his travels and projects that he and other Buckeyes are working on to ONN.

Here's a look at what Harrison wrote on Day 2:

Another summer day is in the books in Christchurch. Since I am supposed to depart for Antarctica tonight, I decided to try and see as much of the city as possible.  What an adventure this turned into. I got a bike from my hotel, with a helmet, and tried to get all the way from the airport to city center. I rode my bike along with our media escort from the National Science Foundation.

Do you remember what I told you about always wearing sunscreen here? Well, it was cloudy and I thought I’d be ok. My arms are now all red because I didn’t follow my own advice! I am now a little burned, but did see a lot of the city.

Our first stop was the botanical gardens. These are very elaborate. There is a lot of green space with some very exotic flowers. The smell was very pungent since most of these vibrant flowers are in bloom. I saw flowers that looked like sea urchins on stems. Pinks, yellows, purples. It was quite nice. I did manage to record a quick vlog for you next to the duck pond.
 
The botanical gardens also have a nice water area where kids can play. I would not call it a pool, but there were lots of people playing in the water. We got back on the bikes after visiting the gardens and rode back to the central business district. This is the area that has been devastated by the earthquake from last February.  Over 100 people died in the quake.
 
I made a quick stop at an empty lot.  There is still a lot of debris in the streets.  In fact, there is a perimeter around downtown caging the area off.  No cars or people are allowed in.  The sad thing is you can see inside some of these stores and they appear to be left just the way they were before the quake.  A lot of buildings have wooden or metal supports holding up walls to keep them from collapsing.  It is very sad.

There is a project called Re:Start. Many of the small shops have reopened using shipping containers.  They literally setup shop in this containers, painted them crazy colors and installed windows by cutting the metal out of a side.  It is a very nice project that looks very modern and new age.  It is so sad that the businesses remaining open are heavily relying on this program’s success.

They have not started rebuilding in many cases yet because insurance companies are afraid of another big quake.  This is why debris, bricks, and glass still liter some streets. After walking around this area and having some food, we decided it was time to head back to the hotel. 

I did find out that my flight to Antarctica has already been delayed.  We were supposed to depart at 9pm local time, but that has now been changed to 3am local time.  We must watch a few safety videos before we depart so the group must arrive shortly after midnight tonight.  I will also have to have my cold weather gear ready as well.  So I hope you are ready for the return of “Big Red.”