The Antarctic Comes to Christchurch, NZ

Hagglund Vehicle and Trailer

The next best thing to a trip to the Antarctic is a visit to the International Antarctic Centre at Christchurch, New Zealand. The Centre is situated next door to buildings that house the staff that work for the New Zealand Government's Antarctic program and strategically positioned near the Christchurch Airport from where field staffs in Antarctica are resupplied.

Unfortunately, costs and time determine that you can never see everything you want when you visit another country or, for that matter, another city within your own country.

One of the places on our "preferred visits list" during our holiday in New Zealand was the Antarctic Centre which we had read about previously. So, we set off from our time share accommodation at Mt Hutt and arrived at the Antarctic Centre shortly after opening time.

Christina at a static display

It was a pleasant day and we decided as we'd probably never get to Christchurch again, we'd buy the ticket that included everything. We received a senior's discount too, which made it quite less expensive.

After touring the static displays and reading about New Zealand's Antarctic history, we visited a penguin nursery and a pool where we could see numerous penguins while they were being fed. Several were disabled in some way eg, one had a wing/fin that'd didn't articulate as it should and had difficulty not swimming in circles.

Probably the best event of our visit was the Hagglund vehicle ride which bumped along on its steel and rubber tracks, went up and over a few steep hills and through a deep pool of water. Grandson Tory would have loved it. We loved it!

Robin has an Antarctic freeze

Another event allows those silly enough to experience very low minus temperatures as in a windstorm in Antarctica. We were silly enough and it reminded us that some of our friends in Canada live in places where it gets just as cold. And they have to shovel snow from their driveway every day.

We were provided with thick overcoats and rubber booties and walked into what was really a deep freezer with several huge fans designed to rain down truck loads of snow at high speed.

Yes, it was cold ... very cold, but we weren't in the freezer long enough for the cold to really soak in. Both of us were wearing jeans and a shirt with a light pullover, so I've no doubt we would have become unbearably cold within 20 minutes or so.

As would be expected, the Centre has a nice little coffee shop where we finished up with a nice hot coffee and cake. We also bought a waterproof jacket each and then headed back to Mt Hutt having had another lovely day in New Zealand.

Robin

PS: This post has been posted well after the visit date, but to maintain blog order, I've changed to post date to ensure proper ordering

Edgewater Resort at Wanaka, New Zealand

Many years ago we bought a timeshare week at Beachhouse Resort on the Gold Coast. We have never stayed there, but it has allowed us to stay at other timeshares all over the world ... literally. Edgewater Resort is the first of four timeshare resorts in which we will stay while in New Zealand.

Every year we accrue a number of timeshare points based on the original six people timeshare at the Gold Coast. But, as there are only Christina and I, we book venues with lower capacity and thus get more bang for our buck. Essentially, although staying in timeshares is not free, the costs are considerably lower than one would pay in a motel, backpacker's lodge or other accommodation venue. We have paid for our accommodation in advance and know what standard we will get.

Timeshares like Edgewater are fully equipped with cooking, sporting, washing, and other living requirements. You could live in a timeshare forever and only need to buy your food and consumables. There is nothing to pay unless you use the telephone or decide to have a massage or other service that is optional and not included in the timeshare deal. They are, of course, much larger than motel rooms and better furnished. Much more a home away from home than other types of accommodation.

Before leaving Queenstown, we picked up a Toyota sedan hire car and visited a shopping centre where we bought $170 NZD worth of food and drinks. We do most of our own cooking which means that our expenses are minimised and after all, we'd be paying for food and drinks etc if we were living at home. Unless you are specifically into restaurant and cafe food, it tends to get monotonous eating out when you can simply knock up a nice sandwich yourself.

Edgewater Resort is integrated with a hotel and spread across quite a large property with beautiful greenery. Judging by the list of activities visible on foyer notice boards, it's a common venue for people to get married. Some lucky couple was being married when we arrived.

After taking a day to rewind and wash our clothes, we spent most of the rest of the week hitting a tennis ball, walking around the many pathways, and visiting the sites within a day's reach.

It's a hard life, but someone has to live it.

Robin

Wanaka's The Puzzling World

It's certainly puzzling ...

After a few days at Queenstown, we headed for Wanaka which is only a short hop from Queenstown. As would be expected, the sights are similar and the lake large and beautiful as the photo of part of Wanaka from the town lookout suggests.

Here, we attended a social get-together for timeshare guests where we had sausages in bread and coffee etc for lunch and chatted with our fellow travellers, most of whom were New Zealanders from the north visiting the south island. The barbecue setting is underneath a glorious old tree in an idyllic setting as shown in another photo I just had to take that also shows a water wheel in the foreground.

NZ has plenty of opportunities to get outdoors, despite the cold, and walk, so we have done a fair bit of that walking around the edge of the lake and within the nearby national park area. We also had a 45 minute game of tennis which got the pulse moving, which was part of our plan, to get some exercise while on holidays.

Most interesting was Wanaka's The Puzzling World which is designed to challenge your spatial, abstract and conceptual skills through working a variety of puzzles and entering rooms that are built at an angle sufficient to challenge your balance and perception. Very interesting indeed. I fiddled with a wooden, four piece puzzle for maybe 20 minutes managing to form two of the four shapes possible and then lost interest. It's demeaning to be beaten by a few pieces of wood!

Christina and I entered the reality-changing building which initially was like walking up a ramp while fighting against our old friend and foe, gravity. In this building, water appears to run uphill, a chair ride takes one uphill on its own accord when you press the release button, and various things you see aren't really what you see. As one of the great philosophers suggested, "we should be more interested in not what we see, but why we see it."

A couple of additional photos from the Puzzling House show part of the experience. The first is Robin with his arms through two nuts that look flat until photographed. The second is the water running uphill. 

Enjoy.

Robin