The weather today was overcast turning to blooming miserable with showers, no to be fair it was just rain, rain and more rain. We started fairly late today and decided to take things easy with a trip to the Antarctic Centre.

We arrived there about 11:30 and decided to do the basic tour as we felt the up close and personal would be too much for the girls to cope with. We spent a while in the four seasons room but Alex was a little spooked by it so we ended up popping out until the snow fell and girls both had a nice time watching that. They had set up an area to represent life on Scott Base and included things like a noticeboard of events that typically happen and how life runs down there. In the next room was a simulated storm where the temperature reached -18C. David went in first and the girls and I watched from outside then in the next storm I went in with Elizabeth at her request. I think she was swayed by the ice slide in there ! As for -18C I have to say I was surprised not to have been colder, to be fair it felt like a Spurway family Christmas walk in terms of temperature. This led us onto the blue penguin area and although it was very small it gave us an excellent view of them. There were three viewing areas ranging from an outside above view to a completely underwater one. The girls spent ages looking at the penguins swimming and playing and they were joined by two other girls of similar ages. After a while we wandered through the various displays relating to life in the Antarctic both human and wildlife wise. The girls found a relax area for children and had a nice time hugging penguins.

We spent about 2 hours in the venue before deciding to have lunch, one look at the café menu in the place proved it was a little on the pricey side. So we decided to go on the Haggelund ride before we left, it took a little persuasion for Alex but she was OK in the end. Well what can I say about that, it was loud and at times scary. It really demonstrated the flexibility of the machine by going up and down steep hills, across simulated crevasses and through deep water. When we finished Elizabeth had decided she did not like it at all, Alex who had spent the entire time looking scared and surgically attached to David was thoroughly excited and loved it !

After this we went to the car and decided to find lunch and head to the Gondola. We found a McDonalds and had something there and while we were there the heavens opened. We still pushed onto the Gondola but when we reached there it was clear there was no point in going up. We headed back home via the supermarket and shopping centre. I bought a couple of clothing bits for the girls and food for dinner. We left there about 5:30 and back to the motel for dinner. The evening was spent starting the packing.