Christchurch

We had a good night’s sleep and a nice breakfast but the weather was not really clear with a little bit of early rain/drizzle. Maggie figured we should go on a tour of the Greater Christchurch area anyway and her and George generously spent the day chauffeuring us around the area.

This turned out to be quite revealing of the widespread damage caused by the earthquake exactly four years ago. We remembered seeing the news footage of the cathedral in ruins and other downtown buildings that had collapsed but had no idea of the impact on large swaths of residential areas that have been essentially declared uninhabitable. These are known as “red zones”. Thousands of houses torn down or still in the process of being demolished. Also a large number of houses undergoing major structural repairs to this day with families living in trailers in the front yards.

As we approached the town of Sumner I saw an innovative use for international shipping containers. These are filled with ballast and placed in potential rock slide areas to protect the roadway in case of further rock falls. They have been beautified with large canvas artwork in some areas. We saw hundreds of these in use throughout the day.

The cliff edge homes behind these did not fare too well.

We continued to the port town of Littleton and stopped to watch a freighter being loaded with logs destined for Japan. Another huge timber export area.

Most of the buildings along the main street of this town were or are in the process of being demolished due to structural problems.

Further along we stopped to see some sailboats racing. Some really cool foiling R Class skiffs on a breezy day.

We continued our drive around the headlands and stopped for a nice lunch at Governor's Bay

After that it was into the Central Business District of Christchurch. Half of the city blocks are barren and most of the buildings that are standing are unoccupied either waiting demolition or major repair. Hard to describe, just look at the photos to appreciate the scope of the situation they face ….

There are hundreds of km of temporary construction site fencing in place in the city.

Christchurch Cathedral is still partly standing while they decide wether to restore or demolish. The Bishop wants to demolish and the city want to restore. The sad reminder of the tragedy remains standing.

Today they had a memorial service for the 183 people killed in the quake. There was also a special service going on at the “temporary” cardboard cathedral was was erected to replace Christchurch Cathedral.

Across the street is a memorial with white chairs representing each person that perished.

There are a few signs of recovery however, the vintage tram has been recently returned to service and there are a few shopping areas open.

Some of the games for the World Cup of Cricket are being played here.

Some stunning wall art has also sprung up to brighten up the downtown.

After returning to Maggie & Georges, we made or way to a restaurant in Kaiapoi and had a nice supper. When we got home, we watched two special TV shows on the earthquake which put our day in perspective.