Swift drives to New Jersey: Day 1

Quick bit of background: I've been interning this summer at an engineering company in San Clemente, CA called Swift Engineering working on their Killer Bee project. The Killer Bee (currently KB4) is a small UAV they are trying to market for the military. For about a month in July and August, Swift is participating in the BTCR (Beyond-line-of-sight Tactical Communication Relay) demonstrations at Ft. Dix in New Jersey. Basically, both the Navy and Marine Corps are looking for a UAV to fill the role between very small scale UAVs (backpack-carried, hand launched) and larger aircraft (Global Hawk, Predator). For those who enjoy the military habit of making acronyms out of everything, the role its meant to fill is the STUAS/Tier II

Anywho, for the demonstration we needed to take a bunch of stuff out to New Jersey, and it would have been bloody expensive to try to get it there by air somehow (C-130 probably), so me and 3 other guys at work have been recruited to drive all the equipment out there. We have the Ground Control Station van that has all the fun computer stuff in it, towing the trailer that is the pneumatic launcher, carries the poles and net for the recovery system, and also carries 3 KB4 aircraft. We're also taking a F-350 diesel truck hauling a 5th wheel with a bunch of other gear stowed away.

Thats a 2,800 mile drive from San Clemente to Fort Dix, estimated to take around 5 days of almost non-stop driving. How can you not have fun with that?

We headed off out of San Clemente Tuesday morning around 8 am, hoping to make it to Gallup, New Mexico by evening. Google gives it as about 670 miles, which you could make pretty easily within 10 hours at an average speed of 70 mph.

Problem was, our average speed was somewhere around 50 mph. Traffic and hills really slowed us down, plus stops for food and gas. The 'check engine' light on the truck also came on at one point, so we tried stopping at the Ford Dealership in both Needles, CA and Kingman, AZ to get them to hook up a reader to the computer just to see if the light was because of something important. Neither place could do it right then, but then the light happened to go off when we left the dealership in Kingman..... We didn't question it and kept on going.

We were only able to make it to a hotel just outside Flagstaff, AZ, almost 2oo miles short of where we intended, but it turned out to be probably better anyways. The area for 80 miles or so west of Flagstaff was pretty incredible. I wish I had gotten some photos of it, but I was driving at that point. It seemed so odd for Arizona, it was green everywhere. Huge trees covered the hills as far as we could see; really, it looked more like one of the forests of Northern California than something in Arizona.

That night was cool, we walked from the hotel to the other side of the freeway to get food at a Harley-Davidson bar and grill. On the way over we saw a nice sunset - I have a picture of it on my camera I'll upload as soon as I get back and get the microSD adapter. The bar/grill was interesting, they gave you the raw meat and provided a grill so you could cook it yourself just the way you wanted. I made myself a tasty burger (plus included salad bar), but as the guys were saying later, it wasnt very expensive, but more than we should have paid for a piece of raw meat. Then we played a couple rounds of pool: Trent (driving buddy) and I won the first one because Steve (other intern) pocketed the 8-ball, lost the 2nd, and lost the 3rd, although that last one was so close! I was on the 8 ball, but sunk it and the cue ball at the exact same time. I had a pretty good time despite spending waaaaaaay too much time on my butt in the car, I only wish I could have gotten some more pictures along the way.

Day 1: 490 miles traveled - about 11 hrs driving time

Spring Break: Kiwi Style!!

It's just getting to be spring here, and we had a 2 week break from school
from 25 Aug to 9 Sept. Yea, I had some work for classes to do, but who am I to waste time with silly stuff like homework when I'm in New Zealand!

You can follow the pictures that go along with this story on my Picasa web albums http://picasaweb.google.com/gherschler

For the first half of the break, My friend Erin (from Boise, goes to Uni of Portland) and I rented a car out of Christchurch. We got a nice white Toyota Corolla. Now, New Zealand, England, and a lot of the other Commonwealth nations drive on the left hand side of the road, so the driver's seat is in the right side of the car. This was the first time either of us had driven on the other side of the road, so it was bound to be an adventure, especially since I had to drive out of the city centre and back to the university. We got packed in and got on the road by about 1, and started up the coast to Kaikoura.

It was interesting to see the "motorways" of New Zealand. Much of the way to Kaikoura we drove along a 2 lane highway with occasional passing lanes. Very different to the Interstates in the US. It was kind of like a minor state highway, where it was fairly high speed (national speed limit on open road 100 kph ~ 60 mph, 50 kph in cities). It was a cool drive though. Not a whole lot to see along the way (I was driving after all, I was looking at the road!) but it was exciting. When we were almost to Kaikoura, the road jumped over the short coastal range, and then had to drop a couple hundred metres down to the coast below, which was a little unnerving driving down. We could see the whole Kaikoura peninsula from along that road though. We were so close to the water, Erin commented that if there happened to be a big wave, it could easily spill over into the road!

Kaikoura

We got into Kaikoura around 3:30, spent a little time getting our bearings, and watched the last 2 minutes of some community rugby game at a school field. Then we looked around for a hostel to set up camp in, had some indecisive moments, and finally settled on a pretty large place (as hostels go), the Dusky Lodge. The hostel was really nice, the rooms were nothing spectacular, but they had some really well-equipped kitchens, 3 social rooms with great wood stoves, and another with couches, a TV, and a great selection of movies. Erin and I went to a pizza place down the street (they have some very interesting pizza variations here...one at this place had rabbit meat!) and we played chess while we waited and then while we ate. I'm not a huge chess person myself, but Erin hadn't played in so long I had to reteach her how the pieces could move, so luckily I could at least beat her. The rest of that night was pretty relaxed, we just hung out in the lounges, played cards for a while, and read. Since I made sure not to bring my computer (*gasp!*) I brought several books to keep me company. It turned out to be a good trip for reading. I brought Ian Fleming's Casino Royale (first Bond book) and got through that pretty quickly, then I also read part of The Coldest War, about Korea. Later on that night we went into the TV room and joined a bunch of other travelers to watch Jurassic Park.

Sunday morning we got up and went out to the edge of the peninsula to go on the coastline hiking trail. We had to start fairly early in the morning because the first leg of the trail was along the base of the cliffs, on the rocks that made up the shoreline at low tide. It was pretty slow going, looking back and seeing we hadn't really gone all that far. We were really walking for most of it on rocks that are submerged at high tide, so they could be kind of slippery, and there were tide pools everywhere between the rocks too. We took our time along that bottom path, and even ventured out towards the ocean on some of the more craggy rock formations to get a closer look at the seals. There was a protected seal colony on the edge of the peninsula where we must have seen a couple hundred huge seals sunning themselves on the rocks.

As we walked on, we crossed a couple fences around farmer's property and saw some sheep (OMG sheep in New Zealand! No way!). At one point right before climbing a trail to get to the top of the cliffs, there was about a 30 m high hill on the shoreline that obviously, I had to climb. We got up there and took some pictures, and soaked in the view, and then came the fun part that neither of us had thought of - getting down this steep hill with an eroding path with no good hand or foot holds. I figured out a pretty good way though: kind of sit down on the heel of one foot and use it as a "sled", and use the other foot to guide yourself, and just slowly slide down the hill. Then we headed up to the top of the cliffs where we could get great views of the hillside, the Kaikoura mountain range, and the coastline. Toward the end of the hike there were some displays talking about the history of the Kaikoura peninsula, one about the geology and one about the Maori pa (fortified village) on the peninsula.

On the way back to the hostel we stopped at the dairy and got some quick groceries for lunch, then ate it on the back deck of the hostel. The weather was great, and we had some amazing views of the land behind us (farmland) and the mountains. After lunch, we went to the Kaikoura Winery just outside town. We got a quick tour of how they make the wine (they dont actually make it on site there. They used to, but now they just grow the grapes and send them off to another location of the winery for production), the wine cellar (which can actually hold affairs like weddings and such), and then we went back inside to do the wine tasting. We took our time, enjoying it and looking through photo albums they had of the construction and the workings of the winery. The winery was up on the edge of the cliff overlooking the road and the ocean, so we had some amazing views out over the ocean.

Now one reason Kaikoura is a popular destination is because of the wildlife (dolphin, whale tours), and the reason there is a lot of wildlife is because of the undersea geography. Just off the coast there is a mile-deep trench, so minerals and nutrients from the deep ocean get pushed up into the coastal waters and attract all sorts of marine life there. Its cool because you can actually see a pretty distinct line in the water where the trench begins. That night after dinner we hung out around the hostel some more, and tried to watch Die Hard, but someone had taped over the last 10 minutes of the movie, so Erin didn't get to see how it ended! After the abrupt interruption of the movie, we talked with this Canadian guy (originally from China) who was on one of the tours of the country after spending some time in Australia

Monday morning, we headed out to go on another hike, this one inland at the base of the mountains. The Mt. Fyffe-Palmer track took us partway up the mountain, through a calf paddock of a farm, then up into the coolest looking forest I have ever seen! It looked like a jungle! It was thick, so we couldn't see much of anything beyond the trees surrounding us until we got to the top, where, if we stood on a bench, we could get a glimpse of the Kaikoura peninsula through a gap in the trees. It was very funny to see the differences in thought patterns between Erin (the English major) and me (the engineering major): Erin thought the jungly surroundings reminded her of the setting of a book she read; I thought it reminded me of the area sniper schools are held in (there could have been a guy 5 feet from us and we wouldn't have known!) We went back to the hostel and made some lunch, then took it out and ate on the shore on the south end of the peninsula. We took books out to read, but it was pretty windy out there, plus we had to sit on tiny rocks that were small enough to shift around easily, but big enough to be annoying, so we didn't stay all that long out there. That night we got Indian food from this place down the street for dinner, and ate it by one of the wood stoves. Mmmm so nice and warm.

The next morning was our last time in Kaikoura, we took a short tour of the Maori Leap caves, which is a sea-formed limestone cave in the base of the cliffs. The story of how they found it was pretty cool. Years back, a company was mining the cliffside, and one of their dynamite blasts opened a hole in the ground, so some guys rappelled down inside and saw the cave. Then, since tour groups obviously couldn't come easily through a hole in the ceiling, an outer passageway was cut. We could see a piece of sheet metal covering the hole in the ceiling from the inside. Our tour guide, an older guy named Frank, was really cool. He showed us all sorts of different formations from the dripping mineral water. We had to "use our imaginations" and see the Statue of Liberty, a sheep, an owl, ET, and other things. After that tour we were on our way up the inland road to Hanmer Springs.

Hanmer Springs

Hanmer was a tiny little town with not a whole lot going on, but cool nonetheless. It was very much and outdoorsy town set up for people who want to come in and go tramping or skiing in the mountains. We got a place to stay at a small backpackers on the edge of town. I guess after all of the 2 hostel's ive stayed at (rather larger ones), I was surprised to see one that was tiny. The Dusky Lodge must have had rooms for 150-200 people, wheras the Hanmer Backpackers could fit like...11. We hung out in the lounge area that night. I read some from my book, Erin read some of her book, I did some engineering homework, I tried to teach engineering to the cat that decided to be my friend. My mom told us I could treat us to a moderately fancy dinner, so we went to this Asian and Indian food place and got some great food plus a glass of wine each.

The next morning we got up, checked out, and then headed up towards the hills on a dirt road, about 5-6 km from the town. We hiked up a trail up to the 41 m Dog Stream waterfall. Along the way, we saw some trees that had this weird black parasite growing on it. It looked like it would grow into thick clumps on the trunk of the tree, and then fall off in chunks, so the ground and any plants underneath the infected tree were covered in what looked like black soot. Creepy. The trail for the most part followed the stream up the hill all the way to the waterfall, with a couple switchbacks crossing the stream. It turned out to be a ridiculously steep trail, so much that on some parts, someone actually had to haul up tools and lumber to build several stairways! Right before we got to the 2nd stairway we just had to stop and take a break because the constant climbing was exhausting us. Luckily the waterfall was only a couple minutes hike from the top of the 2nd stairway.

Almost to the waterfall, we thought we heard something that sounded like somebody screaming, but we couldn't tell. When we got to the waterfall, we figured it out. There was a couple resting up near the waterfall and the woman had just ran underneath the water and screamed because it was so cold! Neither Erin or I really wanted to test it. For the way back down, we took a separate track that took us up to the bushline for some great views of the valley below, and then we went back down the hill towards the carpark. Part of the forest we walked through I think was planted in some project, because all the trees were aligned...and there was no underbrush...so it looked rather ominous. We made our way through the creepy forest and back to the carpark....and thats where the fun really began. (Glennis, Shannon, and Joanne, you may begin making fun of me now) So we got back to the car and I went to unlock it. The car has power locks so that when I unlock the driver's door with the key, all doors unlock. This time, however, they did not. I got in the car only to discover.... YES! I left the headlights on (a sign said to turn them on while driving on mountain roads) and now the battery was dead. Goooooood job me. Here are my stated excuses:

1) It was bright and sunny out, so I couldn't tell instantly that the headlights were still on.

2) The car did not "beep! beep!" at me when I took the keys out (like all cars should do).

3) My car at home, the one I'm used to driving, has pop-up headlights, making it really easy to see if you may have left them on.

4) My car has dumb, downward facing headlights so I keep the highbeams on (turning them into regular headlights!) so I have a nice blue light on the dashboard reminding me at all times that they are on.

The engineer in me is very upset at these clear design flaws of the Toyota Corolla car. My internal engineer was also thinking of various ways to try and get the car to start (inspired by conversation about Apollo 13). I thought we could maybe push the car starting down the road (it was slightly downhill) and seeing if that charged the batteries enough to turn over the engine, but I wasn't sure if the alternator drew its power directly from the engine or the wheels. My next idea was to use a series of batteries (8 AA?) to provide 12 V across the terminals, but of course that current flowing through a couple small batteries is potentially dangerous, so I didn't try it. So we started hiking again, this time down the road back towards town to see if we could find someone to give us a jump, or at least a lift.

We walked 3 km to the main road, and luckily, a nice Kiwi couple turned down the road (headed for the same hike we did, ironically). They didn't have jumper cables, but they took us to the service station in town, where we got a guy to bring out a jumper system, and the car started right up. We also learned from him that people accidentally leaving their headlights on happens on a regular basis up there, clearly a moneymaker for them....

With that ordeal over, we drove back into town and headed for the best part of post-hike relaxing: the Hanmer Hot Springs! Total relaxation (even if the pools did smell like sulphur...). After a while of that we got back on the road to head to Christchurch. Erin got to drive back to school. It took an interesting turn when she accidentally took a road that took us toward the city centre, not the university, so she worried a little bit about driving in city traffic while I got the map out and directed her back to our flats. We got back all in one piece though.

All in all, a very successful road trip! And we have 2 more planned, one at the end of October, after classes end (but before finals) down to Queenstown, Milford Sound, and then back up the west coast before coming back to Christchurch, and then another after finals up in the N Island.