This is a artistic way to hold up the building while work is being done.
We went to the International Antarctic Centre today. Christchurch is the starting place for most journeys to the Antarctic, so they have an entertainment center here. We walked through some of the exhibits, which had rooms modeled after an Antarctic camp, etc. In one room fake snow made out of soap started to fall. The next room was a storm room. We all put on coats and went in. The coats were fairly thin, and we were all wearing shorts anyway, so we were all a little cold, even though it was only zero. They had a ice slide made out of blocks, which I slid down, despite my shorts. After a minutes the storm started, which was mostly just wind, and nothing windier than Alaska.
Next we went to see the penguins being fed. They have a bunch of injured penguins that can’t live in the wild anymore. We got both an underwater and above ground view of them swimming around.
Afterwards, my sister and mom got to go on a backstage tour of the penguins, which they had paid for in advance.
My dad and I got to go on a Hagglund ride, which is a versatile treaded vechile used in Antarctica and other places across the world. They took us back behind the center over a course of hills. It was very fun, and almost like a rollercoaster.
I have memories of riding in a Hagglund when I was here about 10 years ago, so this had special meaning to me. We went back inside and did a bit more exploring, then met up with my mom and sister. We then watched a 4D Antarctic movie. I started out on the boat, with real water spraying on your face as the waves crashed over the boat. The seats rocked, and gusts of air blew at us. A bird flying overhead pooped on us (in 3D of course) and more water splashed on us. Then a blizzard hit and it started blowing and fake snowing.
After the ride we went into another recreation of an Antarctic camp. We tried on winter clothes and sat on a snowmobile. I also went into a room with stuffed penguins. Supposedly there is a picture of me when I was little hugging a penguin, but I couldn't find it.
Afterwards we watched a short video about Antarctica with beautiful photography. We then went through the gift store, where I got a t-shirt, then went outside. Our car rental company came and picked us up.
At the rental company, we finished filling out our paperwork and got into our car. It was a small brown Nissan Sunny sedan that we got for $42 a day ($15-25 cheaper than anything else). But when my dad tried to start the car, the key didn’t fit. It turned out we got gotten in the wrong car. Our car was a silver Nissan sunny. We went over to it, but it smelled horribly of mildew and mold. My mom is very allergic to mold, and she could hardly stand to be in the car, even with a mask on. But the car company didn’t have any available cars, except for a 11 person van. We decided to keep this car until Sunday, when they would have another car. We were going to Pohatu for two days anyway and wouldn’t be using the car while we were there.
Next we went to the supermarket. It was a big store, but we had a hard time finding any food that we would normally eat. They had no romaine lettuce, no corn tortillas (except for taco shells), all of the sausages contained “meat” and were bright red, all of the tomato sauces said “may contain peanuts”, and a lot of other stuff was missing. I am hoping that it is only this store, and not New Zealand in general, that only has super processed foods.
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