antarctic tour and off to Oz

A rainy day convinced us to go from Dunedin directly to Christchurch.  This resulted in a night of camping in one of the less fancy camp sites we have been to.  The evening was saved by take out from a great Noodle place and a nice chat with some fellow travellers.

Two nights in a hotel was a pleasant change after sleeping in the Spaceship for so long.  Standing up while you get dressed and leaving your toothbrush in the bathroom instead of carrying it back and forth is a luxury we had previously taken for granted.  We spent a great day at the Antarctic Experience, a lovely display of Antarctic research and survival.  There was a 4D movie (it was actually 3D with some extras like water splashing, fog and bubbles – time was not altered), a drive around in an Antarctic vehicle (the driver was crazy, so it was very much like a roller coaster) and a blue penguin colony.  We paid a little more and the 2 of us got a special tour of the blue penguins which allowed us into the enclosure where they swam around for us.  Plus we got to go into the vet treatment room where one of the penguins was placed on the floor right in front of us.  All of the birds in this colony are rescued after sustaining an injury due to human interaction (hit by boats, tangled in nets etc) and they would not survive in the wild – so captivity is their only chance. 

We waved good-bye to our Spaceship yesterday and this morning we were up at 3:30am in order to head to the airport.  Look out Australia, here we come!