The flight on Air New Zealand was just as charming as the one from a few days earlier. Once again on the hour-long mid-morning flight they came through with snacks and tea, and followed up with hard candy. The woman sitting next to Don said on flights around 5 pm they come through with wine.
While researching things to do in Christchurch I came across something unexpected, and highly recommended: the International Antarctic Center. By the way, they have the cutest URL: iceberg.co.nz. They are literally a ten-minute walk from the terminal (really glad we bought the new carry-on bag the day before), and offer free luggage storage. It would be nice if more airports had easily accessible tourist destinations within walking distance so you could make better use of long layovers.
The International Antarctic Center is the closest I will ever get to Antarctica. We upgraded to see penguins behind the scenes.
Clearly we were underdressed for our excursion!
No, really, because the next thing we saw was a room kept at 17 degrees F. Brrr!!! They provide loaner parkas, and shoe covers. On a pre-planned schedule they simulate an arctic storm. As in nature, some storms are rougher than others. This one added ice chunks, but not fluffy snow. I lasted a minute or two (I'm from New Jersey, I don't need to prove myself). Don lasted much longer. The local teenage boys on a school field trip frolicked in the snow wearing shorts, even though I didn't feel it was shorts weather outside of the center.
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| Stayed long enough to take a picture |
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| Then went to the warm side of the glass |
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| Chasing his food |
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| The houses and holes are for nesting |
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| Being hand-fed |
Our timing was excellent as we arrived in front of the penguin viewing area just before the penguins were being fed. These are Little Blue Penguins, the smallest of all penguins. They are all rescue penguins who would never survive in the wild. They are fed imported fish. Some were hand-fed, emphasizing how they would not survive otherwise.
From here, timing was awkward. We missed the 4D film.
We walked through the rest of the place. While it is not large, it is full of information. This was just one of many times on our trip we were gaining new knowledge.
Here are a few pictures:
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| Standing on both poles |
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| A rare opportunity |
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| Visiting Scott's Hut -- the helmet was computer generated, when we were both in the picture, two helmets were created |
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| Scott's Hut |
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| A local man brings his huskies every day for education. They are working dogs on his farm. |
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| The penguin pool |
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| Love the windchimes |
Our behind-the-scene tour of the penguins was with an Asian family of four, 6-year old boy, his father, and his grandparents. Only the child seemed interested. The grandparents did not seem to understand English. Amanda, our enthusiastic guide, slowly shifted the conversation to us. She is fascinated by everything penguin. I wish I took notes while she spoke, but the space was cramped. We saw the penguin medical area. Two penguins were there for a check up, one was in the back needing something more serious. They keep stats on the penguins -- weight, molting, behavior. Each month they vote on the penguin personalities.
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| Yappy and Squirt receiving a check up, they are a couple |
Do you know how to tell the difference between a male and a female penguin?
One wears a bracelet on the right ankle, the other on the left. ;)
With many more female penguins to males there is much "teenage drama," which the scientists record and, perhaps, gossip about. They do not allow their penguins to breed since they would run out of space. After they lay an egg a fake egg is swapped out for the real one so they can still follow their nesting instincts.
We came out to the pool to see it from the other side of the glass.
As we left, Amanda gave us a copy of their newsletter: Korora Karanga. They have the gossip about penguin Nick -- last month he had two partners, and this month he was alone in his box. Meanwhile, Lizzie (their newest and youngest addition to the colony) laid her first egg! Lizzie landed on their nice list. Sudi was on the naughty list for turning into a diva. The staff has a lot of fun with their little penguins.
Penguin egg trivia: during breeding season, little penguins will lay a clutch of 2 eggs in a nest that they have built in a burrow. The parents alternate water foraging and incubating for 35 days until the egg hatches. Other types of penguins (emperor and crested for example) have different techniques. Some species of penguins are able to create replacement eggs if they lose their first clutch.
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| The chart on the penguins |
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| We could touch these penguins to feel their feathers |
We had lunch followed by a ride in their Hagglund, a untility vehicle that works on all terrains. We had the option of sitting in the back with tiny windows, or in the more comfortable seats up front (still bumpy, still rough). We opted up front with the grandmother of the family who sat in the back.
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| What did we sign up for? |
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| Yes, we went up and over that |
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| Over the tires, the path varies some |
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| The Hagglund |
After spending several hours at the Antarctic Center we were ready to get on with our day. The sun was shining and spring was in the air, though jeans and long-sleeved shirts were still needed.
As we started our walk back to the airport we bumped into the two women from our WETA Workshop tour two days earlier. They took a boat from Wellington to Christchurch. I'm glad we saw them because in the meantime it rained and we wondered how they made out. They said it was a great experience. I still prefer our hour-long flight, but the great thing in life is there are many different experiences and everyone does not like all of them, and that is okay.
We took the Super Shuttle (this time easily accessible at the airport) to our lodgings where we promptly fought with our hostess, thus souring our impression of Christchurch. In the end, she was right -- I did double book, but rather than saying "let's figure this out together," she said "you have to pay me for both rooms before I will give you a key," and repeating "it is not my fault." Before leaving New Jersey I told Don there was a chance I made a mistake somewhere along the line. I had discovered I did not book enough days at the AirBnB in Melbourne (but, thankfully, could fix that before we left). In this case I used Don's email address for the confirmation, which he ignored thinking it was extra. So, yes, our fault, but customer service matters. Other than that, the place was spacious, clean, and walking distance to everything we wanted to do.
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