Established in 1992, the Antarctic Attraction is located in the heart of a working Antarctic campus at Christchurch International Airport. It is from here that many Antarctic missions are organised. With this in mind the Antarctic Attraction is designed to bring a powerful and memorable experience of Antarctica to visitors in a fun, exciting, informative and commercially successful way. (from http://www.iceberg.co.nz/pages/11/about-us.htm)
We entered the snow and ice experience where the room is chilled to -5 degrees Celsius and the Antarctic Storm blows every 30 minutes in the Snow and Ice Experience and comes complete with stunning lighting, authentic Antarctic blizzard audio and 40 km/h winds. From memory the temperature went to -18 degrees Celsius during the storm (maybe colder, I can’t remember, it was cold!)
We saw some cute penguins
Part of the centres attraction is the Hagglund ride; we had a turn on this just before they closed for the day.
The Hagglund is a genuine as-used-in-Antarctica all terrain vehicle, you experience travelling across rough terrain simulated to be the same travelling conditions as scientists would experience riding in a Hagglund across the ice pack.
Day 14 - Friday 14th May 2010
Last day today : (
First stop is the Go Karts, Nicholas had been asking all holiday to have a turn on GoKarts or on four wheelers whichever one he was able to drive himself. Given he is only 10 this was not as easy to find as we thought.
Any way we found some Go Karts that he was able to drive himself and we all had a go. I am pleased to say that I managed to score the fastest lap and the boys had such a great time that we agreed to stop back in the afternoon before we dropped the Motor Home back to the rental agency. I refrained from having a second go (I didn’t want to embarrass them further with my expert driving skills and someone had to take photos).
We spent the rest of the day wandering around Cathedral Square.
Riding the tram
Stopping at the local farmers markets
Walking through mirror lane
Walking along The Avon back to the vehicle.
That is almost the end of our holiday, we dropped the motorhome off and stayed at a Hotel for the last night, went back to Cathedral Square for dinner at the Irish Pub and then woke up way too early in the morning to fly home on the 7am flight!
Thanks for you patience as I recounted our NZ holiday. I highly recommend a visit if you have never been and hopefully we'll be going back to see the rest of the South Island and to visit the North Island as well one day.
And for those of you who are interested some quick facts about the holiday
Flights and accommodation - $3,115
Nights spent in NZ - 14
Petrol Costs - $495
Coffee stops - 18
Kilometres travelled - 2,627
Average daily travel - 218kms
WH’s Favourite moment
waking up at Kaikoura lookout and seeing the sun rise over the ocean and its glow spread over the snow capped mountains.
Nicholas’ Favourite moment
driving the Go Kart
Nellie’s favourite moment
Scenic flight to Milford Sound with spectacular views
Family memories - Priceless Hope you all have a great week!
xx
Once again I used the Random Generator
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Some cute magnets made from Vintage American Milk Bottle Lids
and here is my new cushion cover in its new home!
If you haven't met Sam yet, go on over and say 'Hi', she is a very talented and lovely lady who imspires me with her creations. and her beautiful house.
Then it is time to leave Queenstown. 
Mt Cook viewing area located at Lake Pukaki. There is also a Visitors Centre here with some interesting information about the hydro electricity stations that are in the area. It did make for some interesting reading and views.
We arrived in Lake Tekapo just after 5pm and unfortunately the office for the Scenic Helicopters was closed so we had to make sure we went in first thing in the morning to let them know we had arrived (and pay). 
After driving around for ages we finally found a spot that didn’t have any “No overnight camping” signs. There were remains of campfires near by so we thought it must be ok to stay here the night. After dinner we watched a bit more of our DVD and then prepared for bed. We had all just got into our pj’s when there was a knock on the door and a gentleman kindly informed us that we could not stay there the night. That in fact you can’t just camp wherever you like and you definitely can’t just park the motorhome in any town limits and sleep in it. You must book into a motor home park or check with the local council on where you can stay!
Well this was news to us (after checking all of our paperwork and brochures we did find a paragraph stating this but no one had pointed this out to us specifically before this gentleman kicked us out of town)! So we asked him if he could suggest somewhere to stay the night and he gave us directions to go back out of town and turn left onto a road that say ‘private property’ “But that’s ok you can stay there!” What????? 
Thank you so much for bearing with me while I recap our holiday! There are only two more days to go and as there wasn’t any travelling involved I will get them done in one post! 
The views are amazing.
Properties around Queenstown 
Alpine lakes 
The cruise took us through the sound and out to the Tasman sea before turning around and heading back. 
It was very, very cold and I didn’t last outside very long. Milford Sound is not actually a sound it is a Fjord (you’ll have to google the difference if you want to know further). Our guide told us that they receive 7 metres of rain a year, it rains 200 days out of the year and is one of the wettest places in the world that is inhabited.
The Sound is gorgeous, cliffs rise up to 1500 metres out of the sea and there are many waterfalls and beautiful lush green forest.
On our flight home we had a bonus landing at Glenorchy, this was the first time I had experienced a grass strip landing and take off and I have to say that our pilot was fantastic!
Then made our way to the ShotOver River to experience a jet boat ride! 
In the late afternoon we went on the Gondola up 450 metres. Where we had gorgeous views over Christchurch.
We watched people do silly things!
We dined in the restaurant at the top and watched as the lights came on throughout Queenstown.
Queenstown to Milford Sound and back to Queenstown