I was up bright and early this morning despite a later bus departure, even emerging into the lounge area first. I don't know why I woke up so early but this gave me a free tv remote where I put on the NZ breakfast show, although all they were going on about what the royal tour and Paul Potts! Whilst relaxing and watching this morning show comparable to Daybreak I went between the kitchen every so often to do myself some toast for breakfast. Due to the fact I was up early I didn't want to wake everyone in my room up packing my bag which meant I packed as late as possible when they eventually emerged.
With a 9.30 departure this morning to our next stop in Christchurch, I found out I had a driver which I had earlier on my trip. He has done a lap of the south island and caught up with me! Driving out of Lake Tekapo bang on time, our first stop of the day was in Geraldine which was nothing exciting. With a few shops, cafes and a supermarket, this was simply described to as a breakfast stop by our driver. With just a short drive today we then continued straight on to Christchurch, driving through the many suburbs en route. So many place names we drove through on the way had the same names as British places which was funny.
By around 1 we arrived in Christchurch, passing the royals on our way in. The reason I know it was them was because a series of police cars passed us, then these posh cars with flags, followed finally by more police cars! When driving into Christchurch it looked pretty fine and I was just thinking what all the fuss was all about over the earthquake, although apparently it was the other side of the city which was worst affected. When checking into the hostel which was a chaotic check in, I headed straight out to look round the city. I'm only staying one night here as there are only five buses a week now which meant I couldn't spend two here.
Widely nicknamed the garden city due to its array of open spaces, Christchurch was devastated by an earthquake in 2011. When leaving my hostel I got my first taster of just how badly affected Christchurch has been from the earthquake. The CBD was amongst the most badly affected areas and to try and modernise the city much of this area is having the both damaged and even old buildings demolished and rebuilt. After passing the old war memorial which was cordoned off to repair and landscape the area, I worked my way through the streets covered in road works to the CBD to check out the many features.
First stop was the Re:Start Mall which is a shopping centre made out of shipping containers stacked on each other and painted all colourful. You could see the old main shopping centre here which is in the process of demolition, as well a new structure emerging behind the containers. The toilets here were even portaloos! Amongst the things here was a museum which explained the events leading up to the earthquake. I then continued round to the cathedral which was just a shell surrounded in boards. During the events of 2011 the historic spire collapsed, and as far as I can make out they are in the process of refurbishing this iconic city building.
One of the big emphasises put on by Christchurch is colour and there were so many little features like mosaics put on the building railings and temporary structures painted in bold colours. The cathedral even had a small house with a garden constructed around it. In addition to colour, whilst the rebuild takes place Christchurch has lots of little things called space fillers. An example of this was the oversized armchairs which were these chairs covered in AstroTurf a little bigger than normal. Nearby here was this sound garden which had lots of interactive musical instruments made out of things like fire extinguishers. There is even a crazy golf course of 18 holes spread round the city to fill in little gaps!
I then continued round through a park, seeing more developments in the process, to the cardboard cathedral. With no place of worship after the destruction of the historic cathedral, an alternative was made out of cardboard! The outside structure is primarily plastic however but inside all the internal decorations are cardboard tubes and cardboard that everywhere. The chairs were even made out of mdf! Nearby the cathedral was a memorial called the 185 empty chairs to represent the lives lost during the earthquake. With each chair being different, it was recommended you pick the chair that represents you most and sit down to take a moment to remember those who lost their lives.
After returning back to the Re:Start mall, I had a good chat with a local about the future of the city, before heading off to Hagley Park and the Botanical Gardens to go geocaching. By far the biggest green space in Christchurch I ended up caching round here until dark! Perhaps the highlight was the botanic gardens which were just teeming with plants and unique structures, although I nearly got locked in not realising it closed at half 6! Luckily the hostel was nearby which meant I could go back quickly ready to relax after a full on afternoon round the city. It's hard to talk about everything because Christchurch has so many little things to fill up the big gaps left behind, mainly emphasised around things like sculpture or colour.
Dinner this evening was originally going to be rice based, although there were no pans in the kitchen which was annoying. This meant I went out into town, heading for the out of town mall where I went to the supermarket, and also by the off chance the warehouse discount store where I got a new pair of trainers to replace my destroyed current pair for just $12! I then settled down in burger king where I used the free wifi which couldn't quite sustain a skype call before demolishing a big eat meal. It was then back to the hostel after a fair while in here through the drizzle and darkness back to my hostel, where I just opted for an early night as the hostel was called the ymca. This meant there wasn't really any on sight night time facilities!
No comments:
Post a Comment