I arrived in Christchurch yesterday evening coming off vacation that spanned Auckland and Wellington. The train and ferry journey allowed me to see a great deal of sights and I had a few nights each in Auckland and Wellington.

Apollo 13: Mission Control at the Downstage Theatre

While I was in Wellington, I went to see the play Apollo 13: Mission Control at the Downstage Theatre. It was quite a find. I was impressed with level of audience involvement in the play as they played the flight controllers (scripts and adlib). One lucky audience member was cast as Jack Swigert—the replacement Command Module pilot. I was encouraged by the interest in space in by both the adults and young people in the audience. It was also a treat to meet some of the production crew and they were pleased to find a member of NASA in the audience. Hopefully, the play will come to the States next year.

The magnitude 4.7 aftershock last night was another interesting experience. It did no damage, but it did wake me up. The aftershock was one of thousands which have struck the region since September 4's magnitude 7.1 quake.

I’m off to pick up my Extreme Cold Weather (ECW) clothing in a little bit and I’ll have post on that soon.