Penguin snot and sea spray …

Inside Christchurch’s wildest 4D movie ride

THE LIGHTS DIM and we settle into our seats. The 3D glasses take a bit of jiggling to fit but soon it feels like a night at the movies. Only instead of soft plush seats we are sitting on squishy plastic.

That probably should have served as a warning but we were too busy getting comfy and bemoaning the lack of popcorn to really anticipate what was coming next.

Then as darkness settles over the auditorium at the International Antarctic Centre, found near Christchurch Airport, a crescendo of music sweeps us on to the bridge of the Spirit of Enderby, an expedition ship heavy with passengers headed to see the ice.

The southern ocean is grey with raging waves. In 3D the experience is eerily real and I find myself holding my breath as the boat crests a wave and launches into space. It’s what happens next that will make movies a bit of a yawn from now on.

As we watch the boat crash into the sea my seat jolts and water sprays across my face. There are a few shrieks from the audience. Nobody was expecting that.

Our chairs continue to shudder as we crash through waves. Sprays of fine mist accompany each stomach-churning lurch and the fresh salty smell of the sea soaks the air around us. I find myself gripping the armrests and bracing for the next jolt. This is the movies in 4D, an all-round total sensory experience.

Safely moored, the tourists in the movie head to a penguin colony. One fluffy brown king penguin chick detaches itself from the group and waddles over to the camera and stares right down the barrel – all very cute until it sneezes. Penguin snot shots right out the screen and on to my face. Well that’s what it seemed liked. It was in fact just a squirt of water from the chair in front of me.

As the sky darkens over Antarctica, snow begins to fall. First it comes as streams of bubbles and then, as the skies darken in the movie, little flakes of ice start to blow across us. They land on me and disappear in an instant. I stick out my tongue hoping to catch a snowflake. No luck.

Soon the penguins start huddling together as the wind starts to pick up even more and the full force of an Antarctic storm hits them. We get a slightly moderate gale thanks to a wind machine at the front of the theatre.

The Antarctic Centre’s 4D experience was filmed by Kiwi Emmy award winning cinematographer Mike Single, who captured the footage in the face of 62-degree-below-zero temperatures, once the wind chill was factored in.

Thankfully it’s not nearly as cold as that in the theatre but the icy blast that brushes our ankle and the thick fog that floats up from the dry ice machines give a hint at how extreme Antarctic conditions can be.

You’ll leave smiling but wind-blown and damp and thankful you didn’t get popcorn.

See www.christchurchnz.com or www.iceberg.co.nz for more information on the Antarctic Centre tours.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR – Kim Triegaardt

Kim Triegaardt is a journalist, corporate communications specialist and – as regularly as she can manage – travel writer. Kim’s professional career has taken her around the globe, but she calls the New Zealand city of Christchurch, in the South Island’s Canterbury Region, home. Kim is the founder of the corporate communications company Totally Write, which she continues to operate.

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