Today we started out with a plan from the day before. We had purchased tickets to the International Arctic Center in Christchurch, where you can experience Antarctica. We started with the little blue penguin feeding at 10:30. They were pretty cute waddling and swimming around. All are being rehabilitated or just cared for after injuries and will live there for the rest of their lives. Some penguins haven’t mastered eating while swimming, so they wait until the feeding in the water is over with and wait to get fed on land. There were a lot of different observation angles and you could even see them in their little bedrooms (of which they each have their own and go back to the same one) if they went to have a nap after eating. We ended up with 94 penguin pictures after that attraction. Some of the other attractions were a storm room, where you got bundled up (with a warm coat only) to go into. It was -8 Celsius before the storm hit and brought a wind chill and then it was FREEZING, not something you needed to experience for a very long time, especially with shorts on! There was an ice slide inside which provided great entertainment watching kids go down too close together and knocking each other over again at the bottom. This one little kid went down and while leaning forward getting readying to stand up, his larger father came flying down behind him and knocked him flat on his face again. Poor kid...but it was pretty hilarious to watch. We also went on a Hagglund ride to simulate what it would be like crossing the snow and ice including crevasses and steep inclines and declines as well as a lake crossing at the end. The ride was in the actual vehicle, but on a dirt course setup out behind the center. Another main attraction was a 4D tourist voyage to Antarctica via ship from South America. You get up close and personal with the ocean, wildlife and glaciers, even splashed from a few. Strangely enough, a large chunk of ice comes through the boat and it sinks, filling the roomm with bubbles at the end...then on the screen it says no lives were lost...but we never did resurface..hmm...we made a pit stop at Pak N Save to restock our grocery supply and are now on our way (about a 3 our drive) to Lake Tekapo, where we’ll spend New Years Eve under some of the darkest skies in New Zealand!
We arrived in Lake Tekapo just before 6pm and saw the sun shining on the blue lake with the mountains in the background. The whole landscape is beautiful and the campsite it up on the hill so it overlooks the lake through the trees. We walked around the the edge of the lake on our way back into “town” for dinner at Pepe’s. We had some very yummy pizza! Camping seems like a pretty popular activity for New Year’s since they are completely booked on all sites, and have sent overflow down to the gravel area by the lakeside! Although, at 20 minutes to midnight there is not too much commotion! Will most-likely be a quick happy new year and then off to bed! Early morning tomorrow to hike up Mt. John before driving to Mt. Cook (NZ’s tallest) and doing some glacier sea kayaking.
Fun fact about day 6....we hit the 1000km mark in our travels and Mom has taken her 1000th picture!
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