January 14-16, 2024

After finishing our coffee and snacks at the boathouse, we again hopped into two Ubers for a drive to our second adventure of the day, the International Antarctic Center.  It is in a campus containing the Christchurch bases for New Zealand, US, and Italian Antarctic Programs, and comprises administration offices, warehousing, an American/New Zealand clothing store, a post office and travel agency, and the Antarctic Passenger Terminal.

After arriving, our first stop was the Storm Experience, where participants, after donning heavy duty down jackets with hoods and foot coverings, enter a large chamber that is then chilled to 18° Fahrenheit, which is then swept through by a minus 1°F wind, creating a realistic Antarctic storm.  I stayed behind while the others got their chill on, a definite highlight for all of them. 

Next up was the Penguin Rescue Center where penguins from the wild that need help are brought in for rehabilitation.  The stars of the show though are the Little Blue penguins (a species of penguin from New Zealand, also commonly known as fairy penguins) owing to their slate-blue plumage.  They are fossorial birds who are adapted to digging and which live primarily (but not solely) underground.  Examples of fossorial vertebrates are badgers, naked mole-rats, meerkats, armadillos, wombats, and mole salamanders.

Another highlight was the 4D movie theatre where over the course of a short film we were wobbled in our seats, had mist and wind blown into our faces, and felt things grabbing at our legs while watching 3D sights on the screen.  From there I stopped in at a mockup of the interior of a cargo plane that brings supplies to the continent, as well as the hut used in 1910 by Captain Robert Falcon Scott, a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions. 

He would perish in 1912 along with two teammates after they made their final camp on March 19^th.  The next day a fierce blizzard prevented their making any progress and during the next nine days, as their supplies ran out, and with storms still raging outside the tent, Scott and his companions wrote their farewell letters.  Scott gave up his diary after 23 March, save for a final entry on 29 March, with its concluding words: “Last entry. For God’s sake look after our people”.

The final stop was a large exhibit titled the Antarctic Gallery, which contained the aforementioned Scott Hut, as well as displays on penguins, seals and wildlife, seasonal light displays (auroras), glaciers, ice formations and pressure ridges and stories of the intrepid Antarctic explorers.  When we all finished our time in the Center we returned to the house for some down time before heading to dinner at Curators House, which resides in a 101-year-old Christchurch heritage building in the city’s Botanic Gardens. 

It was built for the Curator of the Botanic Gardens in 1920 and was their residence until 1984.  Operating since 2000, the restaurant serves traditional cuisine from co-owner Javier’s home country of Spain, with fresh local produce supplemented by goods from the garden.  We started with a couple of glasses of Alba Martin Albarino which led to a bottle of the same to go along with our first round of Tapas. 

These were the Cured Ham Croquettes, Mushroom & Parmesan Cheese Croquettes, Polenta Fries, Chili Roasted Pumpkin on caramelized onion hummus with sesame and finally the Serrano Ham.  Each item was delicious, and we could easily have just ordered another round and been satisfied with the result.

For entrees we split the Slow Roasted Canterbury Lamb Shoulder served with freshly picked rosemary, red wine reduction, gourmet potatoes & seasonal vegetables and Fish of the Day and again were not disappointed.  We finished a dessert, the Tarta Santiago (which Joanna and I enjoyed many of during our trek along the Camino de Santiago in 2017) accompanied by a glass of the Grant Burge 10-year Port for me.  The tab came to 357NZ ($232), less than $50 per person for a very nice meal that also included a bottle of wine and that glass of port. 

The next day, our last in Christchurch, would evolve at a slightly slower pace.  In the morning most of the group trekked over to the Botanic Gardens, comprised of 52 acres adjacent to the loop of the Avon River next to Hagley Park.  It features a variety of collections of exotic and local plants of New Zealand, several conservatories, a nursery, playground and Climatological Station.

When they finished, they walked to the nearby Riverside Market for lunch.  I Ubered over and met them there and walked the large property, populated with nearly 60 shops, markets, and a multitude of food concepts.  While Joanna selected an Apple Tart from one of pastry vendors, I went for some protein at The Butcher’s Pie Shop, selecting a steak and mushroom pie for us to split along with a coffee from its next-door neighbor, Expresso Studio. 

We’d consistently found this concept of the meat pie (or veggie pie) to be a delicious bargain in the New Zealand food scape.  This one was excellent, the meat hand cut, trimmed the meat and braised for 6-8 hours.  And following it up with the apple tart guaranteed we’d be set for the rest of the day’s activities.  We left the market (we’d be back later that day to meet up with someone for a beer) and took a local bus, a bonus as our obligatory couple of Ubers would have cost a small fortune, to the second half of the two item tour Marty had booked earlier, that is the Christchurch Gondola. 

Located in Heathcote Valley, it traverses the slopes of Mount Cavendish in the Port Hills with a length of 1,100 yards.  At its summit it is possible to see across the city of Christchurch and the Canterbury Plains to the Southern Alps in the north and west, and down into Lyttelton Harbor and Banks Peninsula in the south and east.  We arrived after a pleasant bus ride and entered the lower terminal for the gondola and soon found ourselves heading up the slope to the top of the mount. 

Once there, one passes through a large gift shop and climbs up to a restaurant ringed by an observation deck with a panoramic view of the landscape below.  While the others went outside to explore some of the trails, I enjoyed a quiet cup of coffee and reflected on the sights we’d seen so far and all those that were to come.

Soon enough we were all united and returned to the lower terminal where we caught our bus and rode on to for our final destination of the day, and our stay, back at the Riverside Market to meet up with a friend of our friend Heather, James at his favorite spot at the market, the Canterbury Brewers Collective.  He is a brewer and that art form led him here to Canterbury many years ago where he planned to open a brewpub and set down roots. 

Unfortunately, I don’t think the brewery/pub worked out for him but given his mechanical and engineering background, he’s found a way to live well here and still do the thing he loves to do, that is brew beer and assist others with that endeavor.  We spent quite a few beers here with James and eventually were some of the last to leave after grabbing some food from nearby stalls (a mediocre pizza was our selection).  We finally left the market and while I took an Uber back to the house, the he others did a short walking tour around that area of town.  It was a nice end to full couple of days here, one we would recall fondly as we prepared for a full day of travel the next morning on the bus to Queenstown.  We’ll see you there in the next post. 

Links

International Antarctic Center: https://www.iceberg.co.nz/

Curators House: https://www.curatorshouse.co.nz/

Botanic Gardens: https://www.ccc.govt.nz/parks-and-gardens/christchurch-botanic-gardens

Riverside Market: https://riverside.nz/

Christchurch Gondola: https://www.christchurchattractions.nz/christchurch-gondola/

Canterbury Brewers Collective: https://canterburybrewerscollective.nz/