We've arrived!!

We finally arrived at midnight last night, picked up a new SIM card at the airport then got a taxi to our hotel. The owner, Linda, had left us an envelope sellotaped to the front door with how to find our room, which turned out to be a lovely room with a super bathroom.

Up earlyish this morning, breakfast at the hotel, then a walking tour of Christchurch. It's four years since the major earthquake, and we were amazed at how much still needs to be demolished, let alone repaired. About 70% of the main downtown area in the centre of the city was either destroyed, or has had to be demolished, as a result of the quake. A lot of our tour was across great swathes of nothing, skirting around building sites.

 

There's still some of the original areas left, but generally it felt very sad walking around.

The trams are now running again, but with a quite limited route. Still lovely to see them, and there's been a lot of creative uses for containers, from the re:start mall, to some of the structure for the transitional cardboard cathedral.

 

 

 

We had a mid morning drink at a container cafe, bought PG Tips teabags and coffee, and generally wandered around before heading for the botanical gardens. There's a busker festival on at the moment, and we found someone singing the blues/rock in a one man skiffle band just outside the museum. Couldn't resist the change to have a quick dance, then carrried on to a small cafe for a healthy lunch.

We finished the afternoon with a trip to the main museum here, and learnt a lot about the Maori's arrival in New Zealand, followed relatively quickly by the European's. Best, though, was a film about a trans-Antarctica expedition in the late 50s. The first ever vehicle to reach the South Pole was a Ferguson tractor, powered by a Triumph engine, as found in the early TRs.

Now we are off to find somewhere to eat, then back here for an early night to catch up on sleep. Tomorrow we collect the camper van!

Posted with Blogsy