Setting Inspiration: Antarctica Museum

For this chilly time of the year, today's setting inspiration is right in theme with cold and snow: Antarctica. More specifically, the photos I took from the Antarctica Museum in Christchurch. Christchurch is where most flights to Antarctica fly out from. Okay maybe the museum is targeted more for kids, but that's never stopped me before!

The museum had several sections dedicated to different topics. Of note, there's the weather, the expeditions and vehicles, and the penguins.

To get to Antarctica, people heading out on an expedition generally travel on one of two kinds of flights (don't ask me, I forget the details), on a long, grueling, windowless journey out of Christchurch or somewhere else in the southern hemisphere. There was a model area with a video explaining what the trip is like, and you can see the hard, unforgiving seats with the backs up against the wall and the cargo at your feet.

There were a lot of model setups of camps, vehicles, and animal life. The penguins and seals are the popular, adorable ones, but there are also krill, other birds, weird sea-spider things, and other bizarre creatures that we don't speak of.

In addition to models, they also had real penguins. Little Blue penguins are found around New Zealand, and I took care of a few on wildlife rotation in vet school. They're about the size of small rabbits.

The most obvious feature of Antarctica is the temperature and weather. It's snowy and cold and windy and stormy. Growing up in Canada makes this rather less impressive, but most of New Zealand doesn't even get snow in the winter, so the storm chamber at the museum was a big deal. It starts out happy and fun, with slides made of ice and other things to entertain you while the whole group gets gowned up in coat and mittens:

Not to mention a big temperature gauge you can eyeball while waiting for the storm to start.

Once everyone's inside and bundled up, the Antarctic Storm begins. It gets dark. Wind generators turn on. The temperature plummets. There are screens showing the temperature, windspeed, and windchill. It goes from "a bit nippy" to "biting antarctic winds." Again, coming from Canada, I was less impressed. It was more like normal winter with some extra wind. Still fun though!

The best part of the museum, however, was the Haaglund. This all-terrain vehicle can climb, slide, swim, and tilt. We got taken through an obstacle course involving fake chasms to cross, deep pools, sharp inclines, and more.

These things can get around. Which is what you need in a place like Antarctica, of course. Something that can handle the icy, craggy terrain and all its unexpected challenges.

So my thoughts on this as a setting...

You could spend all day researching Antarctica. From the weather to the wildlife to the expeditions, there's history and science abound to use as inspiration. I personally have always loved snowy settings and ice planets, plus I must admit the Haaglund ride felt like something from Mars. In addition to the obvious, the isolated expedition also tickles the imagination, which countless cave exploration movies have explored (and, let's be honest, Antarcic Expedition movies!).

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This post is part of a series focused around gorgeous or fascinating places that I think would make great settings for sci-fi and fantasy (or anything else!). It includes places I have used in writing, will use, or simply admire.