On our last day before leaving to travel around the rest of New Zealand, we went for a hike in the Port Hills in the morning. It was a sunny morning, so going to hike Bridle Path was a nice way to get outside. It’s a short walk, but steep so I don’t think Mom, Dad, and Lindsey were quite prepared for the difficulty. But, once we got to the top the view is worth it. We walked over towards the gondola station and went inside to the cafe to eat lunch. Then, we headed back down the way we came up.
In the afternoon it was supposed to rain, so we had gotten tickets to the International Antarctic Centre, which I had actually visited with friends just the week before. It is a really well done museum though, so I was happy to go back. There is an Antarctic storm simulator, a Haggland ride (the vehicles they use in Antarctica), a 4D movie theater, exhibits about Antarctica, and a penguin enclosure. We got to watch a penguin feeding, which was super cute. The penguins at the Antarctic Centre are ones that cannot be released back into the wild, so some have to be hand fed while others can be fed from the water. Some are White Flippered Penguins (like the one I saw in Akaroa) and some are Little Blue Penguins. Both, are some of the smallest penguins in the world and can only be found around the coast of New Zealand.
After we had stayed until just about the close of the Antarctic Centre, we went to pick up Unc at the airport. He had to come a day later than he had originally planned, but he did eventually make it to us. For dinner, we went to C1 Espresso, a restaurant that I had also visited earlier with friends but is so cool I had to go back. You get your food in pneumatic tubes like at the bank, and can watch it fly through from the kitchen to your table. There are also several other unique parts to the restaurant, like in the bathrooms, where you have to walk through a moving bookshelf to get in and then Harry Potter is being read aloud over the speakers. The water is also dispensed through an old sewing machine. Dad ordered a color changing iced tea, which came with beakers to drink out of and a syringe of magic syrup that made it change from blue to purple. After having a fun dinner, we all were tired so we went home and went right to bed.
Hammond Adventures 