Today we'll have a look at Christchurch, said to be New Zealand's most English city, or at least like a slice of England in the South Pacific. It's a picturesque city, the third-largest in New Zealand. It is home to 370,000 people who enjoy the lowest annual rainfall, the greatest temperature extremes, and - usually - lots of sunshine. One-eighth of the city is devoted to parks, reserves and recreation grounds - one reason Christchurch is known as the Garden City of New Zealand. The Avon River runs through the center of town and much of the architecture is Victorian in style.
Our first stop this morning was the Blue Pearl Gallery (www.nzbluepearls.co.nz) to learn about the process of culturing pearls in abalone (or paua, as it is known locally). The abalone are collected from the wild and a small piece of clam shell is inserted to seed the pearl. The abalone is returned to the sea (in a special barrel with a bunch of friends) for three years. They are fed weekly and their shells cleaned monthly, until it's time to harvest the stones. Both the abalone and the seaweed it eats are protected by NZ law; this producer can only grow 10,000 pearls per year. The blue pearls are quite lovely - and quite expensive.
A drawing was held for a door prize, which was won by Vicky Shepard. Before she could claim her prize, she had to figure out a few details of the private lives of these little animals. She came home with a lovely Paua shell pendant.
In spite of the rain coming down, we all trooped over to the old Provincial Building, built in 1860 to house the government of the province of Canterbury. Today, all government is centralized in Wellington, but this old building has been maintained for various functions. The seat of the head of government looked pretty comfortable.
We then walked to Christ College, a private upper class school for boys - day students and boarding students. This institution is a remnant of early efforts to maintain the English class system, but today the value of an education here rests mostly in making contacts with the rich and famous.
We spent a little time in the Canterbury Museum, which is housed in a lovely old building. It is home to all sorts of Maori and early English artifacts, as well as exhibits on Antarctica. The strangest thing we saw was a reconstruction of a family collection of polished Paua shells - they rebuilt the living room right in the museum.
Right next door to the museum was the Christchurch Botanic Gardens. We walked through just a small part of the garden and had a look at the tourists punting on the Avon River, which runs through the Garden.
We also visited the Arts Center of Christchurch, a large cluster of old buildings that now house specialty shops, arts and crafts, fine arts, theaters, art galleries, cafes and restaurants, and loads of working studios for artists of every type imaginable. For over 100 years, this complex housed the University of Canterbury, founded in 1873. When the University outgrew this space and moved to a new campus, its 24 buildings was donated to the city to create a center for the arts.
Back in Cathedral Square, we admired the huge neo-Gothic Church of England Cathedral. Work on this building began in 1864, only 14 years after the city was founded.
Christchurch is a major departure point for Antarctica, so later that afternoon we headed over to the International Antarctic Center. Antarctica is the coldest, driest and windiest continent, and the Center promises that we will learn what it is like in the “great while south.”
As soon as we arrived, the whole gang went for ride on the Hagglund, an amphibious monster vehicle known as the workhorse of the Antarctic. We were strapped into our seats and off we went through a specially-designed course to put the vehicle through its paces. We went over hills (like a roller coaster, only much bumpier), speeding across open ground, over a crevasse, up the Hill of Terror (tall as a 2-story building) and into a 35-foot deep pool of water. All in all, quite a ride.
We then had a personal guide carry us through the main exhibits of the Center. First we went into the 'Four Seasons' room, where we got a taste of what it is like to spend a year at the South Pole. Six months of daylight, 2 months of twilight, and 4 months of total darkness. From there we went to the 'Snow and Ice Experience' - we put on boots and heavy parkas and went into an icy room - real ice, at a chilling -5 degrees. As if that weren't bad enough, the Antarctic Storm cranked up bringing 40 Kph winds and a wild chill of about -18 degrees. Brrr.
After we thawed out a bit, it was penguin time. Our guide told us about the many kinds of penguins that live in New Zealand and in Antarctica. We had a look into the nests of the world's smallest penguins, the Little Blue Penguins (the same critters known as Fairy Penguins at Philip Island in Australia).
After wandering for a while in the Antarctica Gallery, we settled in front of the largest HD screen in the South Island to watch a terrific film that follows a seasonal arc from sunset to sunrise, weaving in stunning footage shot from a camera mounted on the underside of a helicopter.
We eventually ended our visit in the Hillary Room, which was set up for our farewell dinner. The meal was delicious and we were entertained (and educated) by our guide for the day - it turns out that he has been to Antarctica a couple of times, as a mechanic for the big snow transport machines. He told us tales and showed us photographs depicting travel to and life in Antarctica.
