Home from the Antipodes

I’m back in the office on a crisp Monday morning; Advent is upon us. We’ve got two more weeks of teaching and a week of finals; I give my last exam on December 18 and then enjoy some freedom until January 12.

My wife and I returned yesterday afternoon from a trip to Australia and New Zealand. In the former country, we spent a mere two days in Sydney, but enjoyed a lengthier stay on the South Island of the latter. New Zealand is as gorgeous and welcoming as advertised, and the recent resurgence of the US dollar was immensely helpful to us as we traveled about. We spent Thanksgiving in a little lodge just outside of Kaikoura, two hours north of Christchurch. No turkey for us, of course, though we missed our kith and kin.

I gave a lecture on Kabbalah and Christianity to a small audience at the Crowne Plaza hotel in central Auckland on Saturday night, and on Sunday, before heading to the airport, had a coffee with my cyberfriend John Fox. John was one of my very first commenters at my old blogspot place; he’s been a steady reader since 2003. It was a delight to meet him in person, and chat about the state of the Anglican Communion and the new NZ prime minister, amongst other topics.

And I can now say that not only have I set foot on all seven of the world’s continents, I have gone for a run on all seven. My late uncle Peter was part of that small and mad group who have done marathons on all seven (including the great frozen one in the south); I cannot say the same, having confined all my distance work to the USA and Europe. But when we were in Antarctica in January, I jogged — for about ten minutes — up and down an icy hill. Last week, I went for a run around the Sydney Harbour, and can now claim to have strutted my proverbial stuff on each continent. My wife, I should note, has had a very busy year: she has been on all seven continents in 2008 alone, which is impressive. Fear not; carbon credits for all of this flying about have been purchased.

We’re going to be homebodies for a bit; the longest trip we have planned for December is a drive up to Northern California over the Christmas break. Lectures need giving, papers need grading, book proposals need still further revamping, chinchillas need feeding, and — certainly not least in importance — the house needs decorating for the season.

More soon.