Getting ready for the cold
Trip Start
Feb 20, 2010
1
23
Trip End
Mar 11, 2010
Where I stayed
Auckland, North Island, New Zealand
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
We got to watch them feed some Little Blue Penguins (the only species endemic to NZ) and learned some interesting facts about the Antarctic continent; the warmest day in summer will reach -8°C and the coldest day in the winter can reach -80°C (not including the windchill)! How those emperor penguins can survive such temperatures is beyond me. Certainly a good indication of how much more insulation an inch of feathers is compared to an inch of fur.
They had a room set up with "snow" and wind to simulate a storm in Antarctica. The storm blew through every 30 minutes but when the storm was off it was a warm -8°C. Donning our galoshes but passing on the parkas we entered the room to prepare ourselves for the inevitable back home. It wasn't so bad. Bob pushed the “Windchill Button” which turned on a fan and the temperature quickly dropped to -20°C. Now the storm was about to start in a few minutes so we exited the room and made way for those whose exposure to such conditions will likely only be confined to this room. It’s sad really. Not being able to experience temperatures that will freeze your skin in less than a minute unless you visit this centre. Parents donning parkas brought their eager children (also bundled in parkas) to play with the snow (it really was more like the frost you find in your freezer and not the fluffy or granular snow of real winter). There was a slide and an ice hut (one might call it an igloo back home) and a “motorized snow tractor” which one might call a snowmobile. After a few minutes in the -8°C some people were blowing on their fingers and hugging themselves against the cold. They truly had no idea what was coming – some of these people were in shorts and flip flops (covered in galoshes but still no warmth there). Then a voice announced that the storm was about to hit so please be ready. Sure enough the lights dimmed, the fans turned on and shot frigid air into the room – I was expecting snow too, but sadly they missed out on having frozen particles of water pelting you in the face as you try to make your way from your car to your office. It really would have added to the experience, I think but there’s likely a liability issue there somewhere. The temperature dipped down to -20°C with wind speeds of 40 km/h – it was too dark to see them clearly through the glass but I don’t think many of them were still smiling. Some of them even left the room at that point with loud declarations. Although they were speaking a foreign language I’m sure they were saying things like “Who’d live in a place that gets THAT cold!?”
Anyway the time came for us to return our rental car and check in at the airport. We boarded our little Dash 8 plane and watched Christchurch and the South Island fall away from us. The sky was mostly sunny and we could see for an eternity to the south-east without seeing any land. We landed in Auckland an hour later and realized that the next time (if there is a next time) we visit New Zealand we would simply hop from city to city via aircraft – our tickets from Christchurch to Auckland cost us $69 each including taxes and fees. So the distance that we traveled over 17 days by car took about 60 minutes to cover by plane. No regrets though because we were able to experience the Kiwi countryside and we saw many places along the way that were breath-taking. As we flew over the earth we were given a bird’s eye view of this country and the last images I have of the South Island are of mountains – the entire country is just mountains rising from the sea with little valleys scattered here and there. Roads and rivers snake their way through the mountains making their way eventually to the sea where the land finally evens out before meeting the water. The North Island is much the same as the South Island but has more and larger valleys allowing for a much higher population (3 out of every 4 Kiwis live on the North Island).
The sun is hotter down here than in Canada, not sure if it’s from the lack of air pollution (seriously the air is so clear here!) or the fact that we are higher above sea level than in the prairies of Canada, but we are both coming home rather tanned. Cool! Although we will miss the warmth of the sun we miss our kids even more and we are ready to come home.
