Well our last full day in New Zealand has been a long one!  We were up early and then off on our day of museum tours.  Our bus was late and picked us up at 9.20am and then we went to the Royal New Zealand Air Force museum.  We started with a behind the scenes tour of the restoration work they are doing on aircraft, then looked around the main museum.  When the guide heard that John worked for the IWM he arranged for us to visit the archives (normally only by appointment).  We met the archive manager and she showed us around the whole collection and introduced us to her three staff.  It was a really interesting tour and John was able to exchange advice with them and will continue to stay in touch from the UK.  We spent an extra hour talking to Vicky in the archives and therefore didn’t get back on the tour bus until 12.10pm. Next we went to the International Anatartica Centre: described as the “world’s best antartic attraction” although later we find out it is the only antartic attraction!  Actually it is pretty good.  There’s lots of information about the antartic and the research station New Zealand has there and the way of life for the people on the station plus some fun exhibits.  One is experiencing a storm with lowered wind chill: we had to don overshoes and coats and go into a special unit and they take the temperature down to -18.5 degrees C.  It felt very icy on our faces! It was good to do this today in preparation for our return to the UK!  We also saw the little blue penguins being fed.  These penguins are all rescue birds who had sustained injuries and otherwise wouldn’t have survived in their natural home.  We also went on a 15 minute ride on a Hagglund all-terrain vehicle: this was terrifying as he took us up and down off road terrain and through water and over a crevace.  John enjoyed it anyway!  After the antartic we went to Willowbank Wilderness centre: this was the least interesting of the bunch.  It’s OK and has some interesting birds but we couldn’t help feeling that some of the larger mammals needed more space and it’s not great seeing caged animals.  They do have a centre responsible for ensuring the continuing breeding programmes of Kiwis and we spent a long time following signs to the kiwi enclosure with ever increasing hype.  Finally we made it!  Kiwis are nocturnal so it was dark and we had to be quiet but we did see a couple of the fellas scuttling around – whoa that was exciting!  We then returned to Cathedral Square just in time to catch the Ash Wednesday service at the Cathedral at 5.30pm.  This was a beautiful service – their choir is fantastic – and they had bishops from other faiths as well as the Lords Prayer read in the Maori language.  The Cathedral was packed and with the late afternoon sun streaming in through the stained glass it was a lovely place to be.  The service lasted about an hour and then we took the last part of our tour which was a tram ride around the city centre.  This was about 20 minutes long and showed us areas we hadn’t yet walked around.  Lastly we had dinner: a traditional NZ meal at an Indian restaurant!  And walked back to our hotel.