Christchurch

2015-03-19

Thursday was our first day in Christchurch. Chch is the base for several of the Antarctic scientific organizations, including the US NSF and there is an interpretive center on site. There we learned that 'arctic' means bear, so Antarctic means 'no bears'. Jack and I went in the cold room and experienced a five minute Antarctic storm. (It wasn't really that cold). And Jack is particularly proud that he kept his hand immersed in ice water for a minute.

In the cold room

Jack trying out the snowmobile

A U.S presence

Laura's favorite animal in New Zealand is the Blue Penguin. They are cute little birds and they had about 15 birds at the Antarctic center.

Little Blues

Little Blue getting a fish

After the center, we went over to the former Wigram Air Force Base to the RNZAF Museum. It's a nice museum and Steven and I took a guided tour through their behind-the-scenes collection while Laura and Jack went back to the Antarctic center for the penguin feeding.

Our docent gave us some interesting information about Wigram and the museum. Driving up to the museum, we thought it odd that it was situated in the middle of a housing subdivision. The docent informed us that Wigram is mostly decommissioned and the local Iwi (Maori tribe) had purchased the land and was parceling it out for housing. Whenever the NZ government disposes of land, they are obligated, by treaty, to give the local Iwi the first chance at purchasing the property.

Outside the RNZAF Museum

Last of the RNZAF fast movers

Forward fuselage of the Vampire is plywood

Not much left of the Vildebeest

Lyell, our friendly docent

Jack taking some shots from the turret

The fellow the base was named after, Wigram, deeded the original footprint of the base to the government in perpetuity. The remainder of the base was purchased later. The government was able to sell the portion they had purchased, but they are essentially stuck with the property deeded to them by Wigram and that small piece of property is where the museum and it's outlying buildings are situated.
RNZAF retired their last combat aircraft, the A-4, in 2000. They are now a small force of around 3000 people with T-6s, helicopters and C-130s.