Leaving New Zealand

Gordon instructing Mickey and Jez to look at the camera

It was a lovely sunny day for our farewell to NZ. Said goodbye to Gordon as he left to go to work, then squeezed the last few things into our suitcases and bade farewell to a mournful looking Mickey. As our flight wasn't till 2.30pm, we decided to go to the International Antarctic Centre in the morning, the Centre being conveniently next door to the airport.  A full ticket costs $65 per person (about £35 at today's exchange rate) but we purchased an Express ticket at concession rate of $30 since we had only an hour and a half before having to hand back the car.  The Centre had more 'experiences' than a museum, such as a simulated year at the old Scott base, what it felt like to be in a summer storm in Antarctica, feeding penguins and other activities.

Little Blue Penguins in Antarctic Centre

Highlight for Aenea was the little blue penguins. The Centre has a group of ~50 penguins all rescued from accidents or other misfortunes and, consequently, unable to survive in the wild. 10.30 am is feeding time, so we were able to watch as they dived for fish thrown to them by one of the keepers and then the keeper hand fed one of the penguins who is blind and so unable to catch fish in the water. They are so cute!

Penguin being hand fed

John went for the summer storm experience in a large room kept at -8 degrees Celsius with plenty of real snow and ice around.  Fans were switched on, the lights dimmed to represent storm conditions and loudspeakers reproduced such a wind generated roar that it was difficult to hear your neighbour speak.  Those in the room had been issued with overshoes and a lined, hooded jacket but the wind-chill was such that it was clear one wouldn't survive long in a real Antarctic storm without gloves and full thermal clothing.

Braving the Antarctic Storm 

A full ticket includes rides in an Antarctic tracked vehicle but we finished our reduced tour by watching a 17 minute film on a giant screen of a helicopter flight from the present Scott base where NZ scientists work (our Dunedin hosts amongst them).  Some of the film shots showed stunning landscapes but we weren't induced to book an Antarctic holiday or regret that we hadn't joined the British Antarctic Survey.

We returned the car unscathed by us but had a somewhat protracted session about a dent we hadn't spotted when we picked up the car but noticed was there on our first stop, more than a month ago.  In the end it was resolved in our favour.

View over Christchurch from the plane 

Our flight out was on schedule and quickly took us over desolate looking regions of NZ we'd never been to.  This blog comes courtesy of free WiFi in Sydney airport, where we have 6 hours to kill before boarding for an overnight flight of 8 hours 45 minutes to Hong Kong.  Suddenly the 4600 km we travelled in New Zealand doesn't seem exceptionally far after all.

Remote NZ seen from the plane