NZ is indeed not that far from the antarctic:

You could get a ride in Hagglung, the all terrain carriers they use there. They can handle quite rough terrain

Of course, they had penguins:

Another room was the cold/wind chill room:

brr...

Other misc stuff, including movies:

two kinds of planes to get there, 5 to 8H trip due to the lack of real jet runway on the ice

It's a nice train inside:

Soon after leaving Christchurh, we started getting alpine views:

There was a longer stop at Arthur's Pass:

there is a long tunnel to cross the continental divide

Eventually we arrived in Greymouth where we had a 1H stop:

Their highlight was the brewry which had interesting sliders/burgers as well as nice ciders:

Then was time for the trip back:

Locals at Arthur's pass were protesting use of a poison designed to kill the mammals that don't belong and that have been killing all the birds:

The section on Mauri started with their early lives:

sadly they hunted the Moa to extinction

They had a very nice section on their sacred stone, the Kura Pounamu:

One corner had a nice section on a house filled with pretty shells:

Another section showed the old streets:

The 2nd floor talked about the antarctic expeditions that have been launched from NZ's Christchurch:

Other random sections:

the Kakapo, the world's biggest parrot, is quite cute

All it all, it was worth a good 4H, and was well worth a good donation (entrance is free)

I started with Christchurch's Air Force Museum of New Zealand which was actually quite good:

After that, we went to Quake City which gives a good overview and explanation of the big earthquake they had more recently, but it was just one in a list of many over the centuries:

many quakes

stone buildings did not fare well, the church was heavily damaged

They have a nice river going across the city and botanical gardens, the avon:

Other city pictures:

8 years later, many buildings are still being fixed

They had a nice botanical garden next to the Christchurch's Canterbury Museum

After the botanical garden we had a good visit of the Christchurch's Canterbury Museum

Given that the cathedral was destroyed by the recent earthquake, the transitional cathedral is interesting:

Downtown is otherwise slowly being rebuilt:

A highlight was Willowbank Wildlife Reserve, lots of eager and hungry animals :)

this one got lost

the Keas are quite curious and hungry too if you have food :)

They then had a Maori show, was came from the heart but was not up to the same level than some nicer ones we've seen elsewhere, but it was still nice:

Various dances and demos they did for us:

Jennifer tried their dance, had a few issues with it :)

I'm not sure if I did better, I hope I did :)

And that was it for Willowbank Wildlife Reserve and Ko Tane Maori show and dinner.

During our time in Christchurch, we picked a day with nice weather, and took the Tranzalpine train coast to coast

We then had a nice dinner at Chillingworth Road Fine Dining Restaurant:

The next morning, we went to the Antarctic Center:

They also had an Art Gallery in a nice building:

A local attraction is the Christchurch Gondola, which wasn't bad, but it's a 30mn bus/shuttle ride away: it gives you an elevated view and the option of what looked like a not so stellar hike in high sun, so we ended up skipping that and only spent 1H to get the next shuttle back:

They have a back in time tunnel ride which was ok-ish:

We then had a bit of time left to go through a half hidden science museum: Rutherford's Den in the old university. It was actually quite good and I wish it had been easier to find so we would have scheduled more time for it.

And then, it was time to fly back. I ended up in an AirNZ flight after my United flight was cancelled due to engine trouble before takeoff:

United Polaris Lounge

We were supposed to fly to Franz Joseph Glacier, but we ended up with bad weather there, so we redirected to Mt Cool instead (took a lot of advance planning to make that happen, but I had spent days looking up both locations, had all the phone numbers on hand, and the cell phones to call for go/no go decisions).
True South Flights confirmed with us that weather would allow them to pick us up again later that day, and they flew us to Mt Cook as the clouds were lifting:

Mt Cook airport

We then got some basic gear and transfered to the heli hike:

hard to tell that this is all a glacier with the dirt on top

but it looks like this

we got nice crampons to walk on the ice

nice cave

And after a good time on the ice, it was time to fly back off the glacier. I got a front seat for the flight back, so I got better pictures:

this is the edge of the glacier that melts into a lake, with a few visible icebergs

We had a bit of time before our glacier explorer (boat tour on the ice lake), so we went to the visitor center, which was quite good:

nice picture of the glacier

Next, we took the our tour bus for the glacier explorer to go look at the melting glacier in the lake it created:

I tried to take a souvenir home, but somehow it didn't quite make it

that's what the glacier actually looks like at the point it breaks into icebergs

We then spent a bit of time in the lodge museum while waiting for the plane:

Last, but not least, a few pictures of the plane trip back:

back in queenstown airport

This was a good day, not cheap with the plane ride, but awesome visit of the glacier.

We got a nice flight direct to Auckland with connection to Queenstown. Nice United plane, and AirNZ lounge:

Views of Queenstown on the way in:

Jennifer was very tired the first day, so I went out to check out a few attractions and went for a walk, while she rested:

The next morning, we left for our trip to the Routeburn Track with Ultimate Hikes

After that, we moved hotels and I went up the Gondola for views and luge:

After kicking some poor tourists' ass at luge, I came back down to visit the Kiwi Birdlife Park with Jennifer:

After that, I took a bus to Te Anau to do the Kepler Track, and when I came back, Jennifer got some yummy lamb for us:

The next morning, we started with a nice jetboat tour of the Dart River, up north. Very scenic:

these backgrounds were used for many movies

to kill invasive possums, they have this resetable kill traps

then we got on a 90kph jetboat

We then got back to Queenstown for a 4WD jeep tour:

another place used for movies

mhee

panning for gold

yet another movie location

We then went to check an underwater fish viewing window:

even the ducks went diving

The next day, we flew to Queenstown to Mt Cook, and Glacier Heli Hike

After that, we were supposed to see another glacier, but due to bad weather, we changed our plans. We took the shotover jet:

Next, I went to try a new flyboard/jetpack:

wee

On the way back, found some ducklings:

I picked out a furry one

Next, we went for wine tasting for Jennifer:

By then, it was raining hard, so we went to the escape room again:

And went to get an unobtanium burger that had stupid long lines:

nice view from our hotel patio

The last day, the weather wasn't great (too windy), so what we were hoping to do, was cancelled. We ended up chilling at the hotel and airport lounge for our flight to Christchurch:

Not the best weather in Queenstown, but that's on par for the course. At least we got to see some things we hadn't yet :)