Halfway there...

Having a muffin in Auckland, enjoying a rainy day. Nothing like a NZ muffin and a flat white, I say.

It's a bit weird to be back in Auckland after a year and a half, sitting in the same couch in the same coffee shop, and to just be crashing for a few hours between flights. 

Remarkably, the traveling has been coming along mostly sans hitches (knock on wood). Only got a couple raised eyebrows from the various crazy scientific implements we're passing through security, and the lovely folks at Air New Zealand not only checked our bags early for us, but comped us the excess baggage charge. From there it was on to a quick shower in the airport, a stress-free bus ride into the city, and an incredible breakfast at one of the impossibly hip cafes in the uni district. Butter here is indescribably delicious. 

God, I love New Zealand. 

Off now to enjoy a museum or art gallery or some other rain-amenable activity, then back to the airport for Redeye #2, and hopefully... Samoa!

...aaaand, we're back!

Blogging again. That must mean something interesting is happening!

In less than 72 hours, I will be off to study snails at the bottom of the South Pacific Ocean. That's right, your taxpayer dollars are buying me a plane ticket to a tropical paradise, where I will spend two months on a boat with the express purpose of learning more about something that's so remote from your daily existence that you need a multimillion-dollar vehicle just to see it. 

Actually, it's not really that bad. The very remoteness of these critters is what makes them so interesting – they're some of the only living things that grow without energy from the sun, and they do it so efficiently that they suck up CO2 faster than any other known organism. Plus I'll be spending half the time in a refrigerated shipping container, so you can forget about beach towels and piña coladas... 

Updates here may be periodic depending on satellite reception, but check back now and then to see what happens. More news soon!