On this morning’s walk I went past the Canterbury Earthquake National Memorial on the Avon River. Christchurch suffered two devastating earthquakes, one in 2010, and another one in 2011, the second one decimated the city center, so they had to rebuild, and work is still continuing. The memorial lists the names of the 187 people who died in the earthquakes. There were also some letters from the families of two of the victims placed near the memorial, they were heartbreaking to read.
After breakfast we took the bus to the International Antarctic Centre. Because the bus driver couldn’t give us a receipt (the tape in her machine got jammed), she gave us our money back! Apparently if we got on another bus within 2 hours we wouldn’t have to pay an additional fare, but we needed to show a receipt. We ended up spending 3 1/2 hours at the IRC and the time flew by. We were both so impressed with the exhibits and the really cool activities. There was an incredible surround screen room that broadcast film from the Antarctic, penguins, seals, whales, people, the ice, the aurora borealis, sunrise, you name it. It was only a five minute film, but I think I went back and watched it four or five times, something I have almost never done. The 10x larger than life seal poking his head out of the ice hole just got me!
We both did the arctic water hand challenge, Annemarie managed to keep her hands in the freezing cold water for about 15 seconds, I did it for the entire minute – it was freezing! Then we went into the Arctic storm room and saw what it was like when temperatures got down to -20 below and 42 km an hour winds.
As soon as that was done, we headed outside to get on the Hagglund machines, which transport people and things across the ice. We went on this fantastic track that simulated driving over ice and crevasses, up a two-story building and on our side, it was so much fun! We had a great group, we were all yelling and screaming. We were belted in and had straps to hold onto as well, which we needed since it was an extremely bumpy ride. It was so much fun! Then it was back inside to watch the 4G movie where we wore 3-D glasses, which made the images pop but our seats also moved and we got squirted with water quite a few times as we traversed ice flows and even got pooped on by a seagull! We got to get up close and personal with emperor penguins and baby seals, it really felt like they were right there, and we didn’t even have to have warm jackets on! I was very impressed.
At this point, we only been there an hour and a half, but it was time for the penguin feeding so we went along to that and stood in the back of the room to watch while the penguins were fed. I did not realize that all of the penguins at the International Antarctic Centre are there because they are disabled in someway and would not be able to survive in the wild. Some have damaged wings or are blind or have an injured foot. It’s fantastic to know that they are in a place where they are able to survive, and people can learn about them, as well as learning what they can do to help prevent these sort of injuries. It was so much fun to listen to the kids squealing as the penguins dove into the water and swam around.
Annemarie had another go in the arctic storm room, then we got to hang out with husky dogs! They were the most patient sweetest dogs, their handler said that they interacted with about 800 people a day during the busy season! They sure got a lot of love.
We bused back to the hotel, had some lunch, then I headed out to check out some art museums while Annemarie got together with her friend. I first went across the street to what was the original site of Canterbury University, the second oldest university in New Zealand, where Ernest Rutherford did his studies that led him to becoming a world renowned physicist and Nobel prize winner. It is now the Arts Centre and there is a small museum about Sir Rutherford that includes the room he first used for his experiments. There are sculptures and other pieces of art scattered around the courtyard and beautiful stained glass windows inside.
Today was the last day the Canterbury museum was open until later in the year because of retrofitting and updating. I checked out the paua house, a place I visited in 1994 when it was still in its original location in Bluff. It was just as kitschy as I remembered.
One block down was the Ravenscar museum/house. The owners were art collectors who had a gorgeous estate in a seaside section of Christchurch that was destroyed by the earthquake. They had been planning to donate their art to the city of Christchurch, so bought some land that used to be a car park across the street from the Botanic Gardens and built a Museum in the style of a house to showcase their artifacts. They never lived there, but the museum is set up like a house with a dining room, bedroom, living room, garden and library. There was some amazing art, including 2 Goldies!! Paintings by CF Goldie are the most revered of artworks in New Zealand and I have only ever seen them in museums. His paintings are so detailed they look like sharp focused photos, even up close. It was a very serene, beautiful place, not at all like your standard art museum.
I spent a little more time walking around the city checking out the civic art and new buildings. The earthquakes gave the city the opportunity to create better traffic flows, add in more bike paths (it’s a very flat, so ideal for biking, especially for university students) and build architecturally very different buildings. Many of the city’s beautiful old stone buildings were destroyed, but I’m impressed with the new buildings that have gone up in their stead.
When I needed a rest I headed over to the Arts Centre’s Cellar Door wine bar. They had over a dozen different wine flights to choose from! I got the Te Araroa, which was a selection of 4 classic New Zealand wines – Sav Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and a combo wine of Cab Franc, Merlot and Cab Sav. I enjoyed them all, especially the Sav Blanc. I wasn’t quite ready to head back to the hotel and was enjoying the atmosphere at the wine bar so decided to splurge on another flight and dessert. Mind you, the prices were really reasonable, the flights were about $10 US each. This time I got a flight of ports, one Australian and the rest from Portugal and all delightful! Dessert was a dark chocolate cremeaux with pomegranate purée and crushed pistachios on top, absolutely perfect to have with the ports. I was very happy at the end of my time there and only had to walk across the street to get back to my hotel. What a wonderfully full and fun day!
