One of the places we visited in Christchurch was the International Antarctic Research Centre, it is located next to the airport.
I was quite excited to visit this place and find out about life on this huge continent, all about the wildlife and what research is done there.
There is quite a few things to do in this place and they are all fun. They have some blue penguins which have been injured and therefore cannot live in the wild anymore. There is a feeding time and the person explains about them. Also we got to experience an Antarctic storm, you are given warm clothes to put on and the storm weather begins. It goes to -8 and there is a wind chill of -18, it was pretty cold, but I am sure I have felt that cold here. (or maybe not)
Alessio enjoyed two things, one was the Hägglund, which is an all-terrain amphibious Antarctic vehicle. The ride takes only 5 mins but you are thrown around and jolted up and down on an obstacle course. It gives you a insight into how people travel around.
I think though for Alessio his favourite was getting to see and pat the huskies. They were all very calm and more than likely used to lots of people coming in to pat them. The only thing the women said was not to look them straight into the eye. I stayed for a bit but Alessio stayed for as long as he could. He looked like a natural and no wonder he pesters me to get him a dog.
There was also a 4D cinema, which we went twice and for me was the first time I had experienced this and certainly was not expecting water in my face.
Of course there are the exhibitions about what the scientists and researchers do there and the animals that live there. All in all a great place to visit and interesting for adults and kids alike.
Hope you are all having a great weekend.
