Dr Russell - Christchurch, New Zealand - 23 Feb 2011

Having sorted out all our kit last night at the rendezvous point, we were given accommodation in a local hotel.  Bed about 0230 but slept well, getting up about 0800.  After a bite of breakfast, the team leaders had a brief and then disseminated the information to the crews. We are definitely going - there had been some debate and 'rumour control' about the shifting shape of the deployment.  It's inevitable that things will change as a plan develops to move sixty people and eleven tonnes of kit at short notice to the other side of the world.

So the plan is to fly from London Heathrow at 1545 via LA to Aukland, then a short flight to Christchurch. About 24 hours of flying getting us in sometime on Friday. Naturally you wonder how many people are missing and how many may be trapped, but still alive.  Every now and then the reality comes sharply into focus and you think that there could be people trapped in a 'void space', right at that moment, waiting and desperately hoping for rescue.  It's at these times that the clock seems to tick inordinately slowly, as if you're in a dream trying to run but being unable to move.

And so it was onto minibuses with our kit and off to Heathrow. As soon as we arrived we had press interest and the team was not exactly difficult to spot.  So many people in rescue kit, carrying cabin luggage typically consisting of a day-sack with a rescue helmet, we didn't exactly blend in.  It was strange to be wished well and thanked by so many strangers.  I felt a bit guilty somehow, thinking that we should be thanked after we actually do something constructive, not before. It showed, again, how shocked people are.  Perhaps it's because so many Brits have family and friends in New Zealand, or have travelled there, or because the earthquake and devastation have happened in a city not unlike ones they know back home.  We all felt some weight of expectation building.

Finally we boarded Air New Zealand flight NZ1 to begin our long long haul flight.  Few were ready to sleep even though everyone knows how busy it could be when we arrive.  Small groups stood quietly in the gangways quietly going over and over what may lie ahead.  Eventually the lack of sleep from last night caught up and most managed a few fitful hours of rest.