As part of our ongoing commitment to Extreme Vacationing, we traveled from Siem Reap, Cambodia to Christchurch, New Zealand by way of Bangkok and Sydney. After 28 hours of travel, we napped, had dinner, and went back to sleep.

After breakfast the following morning, we  did a bit of exploring in Christchurch, a city that was virtually leveled by a 2011 earthquake. A lot of work has been done, much more remains, and many buildings are propped up and awaiting repair.

An iconic stone church in the center of the   city. 

Steel beams provide support

All new construction must be built to earthquake – resistant standards. Below, one of many earthquake related artworks: a house of glass, beautiful and fragile, its roof a pile of broken wood.

We visited the recently reopened Christchurch Art Gallery. Some beautiful paintings, but our favorite part was an exhibit of kinetic sculptures by Len Lye. Impossible to capture, but this will give you an idea of what these pieces did for us.

Doesn’t look like much until it starts vibrating, banging and clanging for several minutes. Then suddenly it’s still until it’s next thrilling performance.

By early afternoon it was time to head to Akaroa, and a nature area a couple of hours from Christchurch. This was, in fact, the reason for our coming to this particular area.

We came for the penguins.

On land they have farmed for 45 years, a couple, aided by a small staff and very little outside support have been caring for a couple of hundred small blue penguins that inhabit the surrounding waters. Each night, the penguins swim to shore, clamoring up the rocks en masse. Parents return to nests, bringing food to their young. If there is an egg in the nest, mom and dad take turns sitting on it.

At 6:00pm, we met up with Ben, a young Frenchman who came to New Zealand five years ago. We gathered up some gear and headed out of town as he talked about what we would be seeing.

First stop, the farm. Ben’s call brought a small stampede.

I helped feed the lambs.

Then it was time to check on the nests. Normally these penguins dig holes in the ground, but conditions here make that difficult. The answer was to build hundreds of simple boxes and hope that the penguins would find them to their liking, which they did.

Here’s one that a male has prepared in hopes of attracting a mate.

Ben keeps track of which boxes have been occupied. We peeked in with him on this mama and her egg.

With daylight starting to fade we moved out to a viewing point and waited. Along with the blue penguins, there was a chance we would also catch a glimpse of a white penguin, this one larger and with yellow eyes.

Here, a group make their way up the rocks.

And here, the elusive yellow eyed penguin, who stood for several minutes on the rocks, to Ben’s surprise and our appreciative delight.

By 10:00 we were back in our Akaroa lodgings. The next day it was back to Christchurch, where we prepared for the next leg of our travels in New Zealand.

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