It was a long night. Our flight left Australia at midnight and arrived in NZ at 5am. There is a 2 hour time difference, so that meant virtually no sleep!
We waited at the airport for sunrise and then collected our hire car. We drove into the centre of Christchurch, parked up and went to look around.
Sadly, what was once probably a beautiful city has been devestated. The earthquake that occured a few years back has destroyed many parts of the city. The cathedral has lots its spire and half of its walls. Many buildings have been demolished, many others are deserted as they are structurally unsafe. Some buildings were held up with steel supports. A terrible tragedy and horrible to see!
However, Christchurch is slowly rebuilding. We visited Old Regent Street which was beautiful and full of lovely old buildings. Also the picturesque River Avon and Restart, which is a temporary shopping centre made from containers. There was also many small areas where people had used the rubble from the buildings to make something fun for people to use. One such area was a small park with items like street signs and fire hydrants made into musical instruments.
Finally we found our accommodation which was just outside the city and it had the most spectacular views of the distant snow capped mountains! Then we slept ... a lot!
We waited at the airport for sunrise and then collected our hire car. We drove into the centre of Christchurch, parked up and went to look around.
Sadly, what was once probably a beautiful city has been devestated. The earthquake that occured a few years back has destroyed many parts of the city. The cathedral has lots its spire and half of its walls. Many buildings have been demolished, many others are deserted as they are structurally unsafe. Some buildings were held up with steel supports. A terrible tragedy and horrible to see!
However, Christchurch is slowly rebuilding. We visited Old Regent Street which was beautiful and full of lovely old buildings. Also the picturesque River Avon and Restart, which is a temporary shopping centre made from containers. There was also many small areas where people had used the rubble from the buildings to make something fun for people to use. One such area was a small park with items like street signs and fire hydrants made into musical instruments.
Finally we found our accommodation which was just outside the city and it had the most spectacular views of the distant snow capped mountains! Then we slept ... a lot!
