The morning of our last day in New Zealand began like most of the others - feeding the ducks that had gathered outside our door. Standing outside the flat to feed them, Trav was able to gather three ducklings inside the cabin by laying a bread trail for them. After the bread was gone, there was no immediate rush out of the cabin, as we had expected, and they wandered around for a short while until they realised there was more bread outside and they were missing out.

After packing for the last time, we drove to the International Antarctic Centre, next to the airport. As usual, the prices were astronomical, and the experience failed to meet the entry price ($16 each), as far as we were concerned. Perhaps if there was a family, it would be better value, but for a couple, the prices are not good. Our entry price was $32 total, but the same price was listed for a family ticket, including two adults and three children. Apparently to get a discount, you need to breed, which, according to us, means the price of a discount is way too high…

The first room we entered was an extremely lame hologram presentation that gave no hints as to where the hologram would appear next, leaving people rushing from one side of the room to the other in the search for the hologram. It was a seven minute presentation apparently, but we could not tell where it started and ended, so we gave up after ten minutes and moved into the next room.

There were a few presentations around the walls (nothing really of interest) and then we came to a room built to simulate snowy weather. The temperature in the room was -5C, and we were given coats, and rubber overshoes to protect our footwear. There was a small amount of snow, and it was certainly cold enough, although not as cold as we expected. In one section of the room, there was a wind-chill machine that blew air onto you, to simulate -25C. Both of us agreed that it was DAMN cold!

When we first entered the room, there was a school group in there at the time, and we noticed a few of the boys having a challenge to stand in front of the wind machine the longest. It was actually quite funny to see them trying to outlast one another while their eyes were streaming tears, their faces were slowly turning whiter and whiter, and their noses just kept getting redder. After we’d been in there for several minutes, their teacher called them out of the room. You could see the relief in their eyes because nobody had won, none of them had lost, and they could all boast happily that they could have lasted another six days or so in front of the machine…*grin*

A few more lame displays later, and we found ourselves at the exit, so we departed and went to the city centre for a canoe down the river. If we had not gotten our duck quote in the morning (16 in the holiday park), then we certainly got it here. There were literally dozens of ducks and ducklings, which Trav tried his best to run over, in order to make Di fret that a duck was about to go under the canoe. In all reality, there was never a chance that Trav could propel two people upstream faster than a duck could move sideways in the current…

At the end of an hour, we jumped out of the canoe, and headed to Cathedral Square to listen to the Wizard. The Wizard is some loony guy that likes to dress up in robes and cape and spout his personal views on this, that, and everything in between. On this day, he was telling the world about how scientists are up to no good, because they’re all money-driven and we should get rid of the capitalist society we live in that provides money for them.

It should also be mentioned here that the Wizard sells upside-down maps of the world, with Australia and New Zealand at the top, and the US and Europe wrong way up in the southern hemisphere. Although we knew he sold them, we did not expect such a lame tie-in, with him proposing that since most of the world’s money is in the northern hemisphere, people from there should live in the southern hemisphere. In this way, “there would be a learning curve about money not being so important, and these maps, ladies and gentlemen, can be purchased for just a small price today”. Talk about hypocritical - bagging the capitalist notions and selling stuff in the next breath…

Deciding the Wizard was a pretentious git, we returned the car to the depot, and got driven to the airport by the owner’s wife in her Mercedes 4-wheel drive (obviously the car hire business is a good one). We have to say though, that the Mercedes label failed to impress us very much - it was not a very nice car inside at all.

Checking luggage and receiving tickets, we went to get some lunch and found that with only $3.20 in local currency, we had a small problem. However, we found a food store upstairs that accepted credit cards, so we Amex’ed a couple of sandwiches. This was notably the first time in New Zealand that the person asking for payment actually checked the signature on the credit card - everyone else just handed the card back without comparing signatures, or sometimes even handing the card back before we signed the receipt. Still, I think that if I had someone’s stolen credit card, I’d buy more than sandwiches on it before the loss was discovered. The $3.20 was used to buy a hatpin in memory of our travels.

On our way back past the check-in, we heard the announcement that there had just been a nationwide collapse of the computer booking system and so all check-ins would now have to be manually performed. As we looked at the 100 or so people in line, we realised that there was going to be a delay, and sure enough, there was. Instead of leaving at 4:15pm, we left the ground at 4:55pm. However, this was not so much due to the computer crash as the fact that a passenger named Wilson had not gotten on board. Due to security concerns, it was necessary to find and remove their baggage from the hold of the plane before we could depart.

As we taxied down the runway, the co-pilot informed us that we were leaving 18C in Christchurch, and would be arriving in Melbourne where it was 35C, whereupon there was a sudden surprised exhale from everyone on board. The sound this made was actually quite impressive in it’s volume, because there were a couple of hundred people on board.

The movie on the way back was “Bowfinger” (yet to open in Australia, and a real stinker - DO NOT GO AND PAY FOR THIS!) with Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy.

Not long after arriving in Melbourne, we knew we were back in Australia via our taxi driver from the airport. In 35C heat, he was saving fuel by not having the air-conditioning going, despite the sweat running off all three of us. He also did not get out and help with putting the bags into the car, nor help getting them out. During the trip, Trav asked if it had been hot for a few days, or was this the first hot day? His response was that it was “yes, very hot today”, before returning to silence for the rest of the trip. At the end of the trip, the fare came to $22.30, and he got most upset when Trav handed over $25 and waited for change. We’re not sure why he felt he deserved a tip, but we did feel he was worthy of SPOTD.

In summary:

1. We ended up with 11 SPOTD awards presented over nine days, with one SPOTD-free day.
2. We changed exactly $200AUD to $NZD for the trip and came back with $0.25NZD.
3. NZ tourism offices are really very helpful for planning travels.
4. NZ South Island beaches are not very pretty at all.
5. We could have spent more time in NZ, but either 1 day more in each island, or 1 month more in each island.
6. We want Rocky Road chocolate to be sold in Australia.
7. We drove only 2800 kms, although we had estimated about 3500-4000 kms would driven. The islands were smaller than we thought.
8. Thanks to all those that helped Trav and Di escape for nine days.

Categories: NZ 1999, Travel