Architecture and the Antarctic

We started the day on a walking tour of central Christchurch with Gordon, a retired architect, who talked about how the city responded to the devastating magnitude 7.1 earthquake in 2011. Most of the downtown buildings and surrounding homes suffered severe damage, which the city is still recovering from. Large open spaces, which appear to be nice grassy parks, are places where homes have been scraped away, and gravel parking lots abound where commercial buildings once stood.

In the afternoon, we headed to the International Antarctic Centre, home to the joint Antarctic research programs of New Zealand, United States and Italy. It's a great museum, which chronicles the exploration and discoveries on Antarctica. We got a taste of what the Hägglund transport is like on the rough terrain (bumpy!), and watched penguins being fed and playing in the water. These are "Little Blue penguins," which have been injured and are unable to survive in the wild.

Tomorrow we are off on our biking adventure!Read more