Christchurch, New Zealand

I will certainly be happy when we have a sea day again! We've had 5 days in port and I'm tired. We've had a great time though, so well worth it! We have 2 more days in New Zealand, then 3 sea days before Tasmania. Whew, 3 days to rest up!

 

Today we were in Christchurch. The port town is Lyttleton, Christchurch is about 30 minutes away. The city supplied a shuttle bus so we hopped on at about 8:30. We were dropped right in front of the beautiful cathedral at Cathedral Square. We were informed at the port that today is the first day of their annual flower festival, so there were cute topiaries out in the square. There were also street vendors set up in the square. We did some shopping first, then went into the church. They had made a "carpet" of flowers down the main isle. It has designs in it with many different flowers, leaves, plants, etc. Kind of reminded me of the Rose Bowl Parade! There were also many displays around the outer walls of the sanctuary. It was a beautiful church. Apparently it hadn't been affected by the large earthquake in Christchurch just 5 months ago.

 

We walked around the square a bit to see what else there was to see. I'd read that the Antarctic Centre here had won several tourism awards and was MUCH better than the one we visited in Auckland. We found a very cute penguin shuttle bus to take us out there. Nice to save some taxi money. The Centre was right across the street from the airport. We could see the huge USAF C130 sitting there, waiting to take off for Antarctica. The US Antarctic Program hangar was there also. Across from the entrance to the Centre was the Passenger Terminal for the United States Antarctic passengers! We were where they actually take off from. The center is owned jointly by the US, NZ and Italy.

 

We went into the public Antarctic Centre. It is set up with many different rooms to visit, each with a different experience. First we went thru a room which showed the changing of seasons in Antarctica. Next, we were given warm parkas and rubber boots to wear into the Snow & Ice Experience. The floor was snow, there was a snow igloo, as well as a snow slide for the kids. They closed the room and brought the tempurature down to 17 degrees F as well as a strong wind to give us a bit of what it's like in Antarctica. Next we saw a 4D movie about a ship going to Antarctica. The sea sprayed on us, penguins spit on us, etc. It was cute. From there we walked thru the rest of the rooms for lunch. They don't serve hamburgers and hot dogs at their cafes. We had quiche! It was very good.

 

After our lunch break we waited in a line outside to ride a Hagglund. That is the kind of vehicle they use on the ice. They had a course set up behind the building where we rode at a 30 degree angle, went up and over a steep hill and across a meter wide ditch. We also were afloat in a huge puddle, which is important in case they should break thru the ice to water. Bumpy ride! We returned to the building and watched a movie with the Antarctic landscape. It's quite beautiful, as we know in person. We cruised there in 2006. We browsed in a gallery which has displays of sea life in Antarctica as well as equipment used. We did everything waiting for the 1:30 penguin feeding time.

 

At the Centre they had Blue or Fairy Penguins, the smallest in the world. Every one they had there has some kind of injury. Some are blind in one eye, or paralyzed in one foot, or even missing a foot. They were all rescued and would die if in the wild. Some of them were able to eat food tossed into the water. Some they had to hand feed on land. One little guy had bad feet so they had wrapped them in purple tape. It looked like he has his own personal pair of flippers. They were very cute. We then caught the shuttle bus back to Cathedral Square.

 

We'd seen an Aquarium & Kiwi House there on the square before going to the Antarctic Centre. We were afraid it would be like the place we'd visited in Auckland, but the posibility of seeing live kiwi made us take the chance. The aquarium section wasn't very big, but had fish native to NZ, so kind of interesting. In the back was the Kiwi House. We had to wait for a guide to take us in and there was no guarentee of seeing one. We went in with about 5 others. Right there, about 2 feet in front of the glass, were 2 kiwi busily picking at the dirt looking for worms. We could see them fairly clearly in the dim light. At least we saw more than a round lump like we'd seen outside Tauranga. They were moving about nicely. We were allowed about 5 minutes then went out. Mel thought we should go back in again, so we got back in line (there was one other person in "line") to enter again. This time the guide said only the male was out. We found him against the far, back wall. He kind of sat there for a while, then moved to the side wall and slowly moved toward the glass in front of us. He finally walked right around the glass. Mel and I were both kneeling by this time, so he passed about 4" in front of our noses! Wish we could have taken pictures. I don't think we could have had a much better viewing. It was worth the entrance fee.

 

We shopped a bit on the square then got on the shuttle to return to the ship. We were onboard by 5. Sail away was at 6. The port was in a sheltered cove. It was nice watching the cliffs go by as we ate dinner.