Continuing on from our trip round Banks Peninsula, we checked into our motel not far from Christchurch centre, then wandered down into town for a quick look around. The weather was still very warm, so when the motel offered us a choice of free breakfast or air-con, guess which we opted for.
On Sunday we walked into the city, and came across the first of the Elmer Elephants on the trail, for which I’ve done a separate blog.
We were interested to see how the city is recovering from the devastating earthquakes, and were pleased to see it looking bright and stunning.
There are lots of murals around the city, which of course I had to snap.
The central shopping areas are pedestrians and trams only, which made for a nice wander.
We stopped for lunch in what, at first, we thought was a small cafe, but turned out to be a large food market, The Riverside Market, serving any nationality food you could wish for. As it was still hot and sunny, we enjoyed our food sat outside.
Then we took a visit to the Quake City Museum, which has great interactive exhibits showing how the earthquake happened, and what progress has been made to recover.
Many building are either repaired, or shored up awaiting repair. The first image is the Cathedral.
There are also stunning new builds around.
One new build I particularly wanted to visit was the Cardboard Cathedral.
This building was originally planned as a transitional structure while the old cathedral is rebuilt.
However, planning etc has meant that it was eventually made a more permanent structure that will be given to St Johns Parish, who donated the land, when it is no longer required.
Its construction is based on huge cardboard tubes.
Hot and tired, we decided to visit the gondola next.
On our way back to the motel we came across the incredible Margaret Mahy Playground, built on land left derelict by the earthquake. On a glorious Sunday, it was full of very happy children enjoying the huge complex of climbs, slides, fountains etc. The playground cost over $40m but is certainly one of the best features of the city.
That afternoon we drove over to the Christchurch Gondola.
The cable car travels 1,000m up Mount Cavendish and offers panoramic views of the city and Banks Peninsula.
There was a refreshing breeze up at the top, and we enjoyed an ice cream.
That evening we drove around the surrounding area looking for more elephants. This took us to places we would not have ventured to otherwise.
We came across this sculpture, which we decided were of Higgs and Fern, the Swedish Valhunds, waiting at a tram stop.
After another hot night, and with our flight later that afternoon, we opted to visit Orana Wildlife Park on our last day.
It is situated on the outskirts of Christchurch, and is an open-range zoo.
It has a very different feel to most zoos we have visited, with wide open, roughly landscaped areas to stroll through.
We had a friendly Fantail dance around us for a while.
And more animals
Sadly, that took us to time to return our hire car and catch our flights home.
We were very sad to leave this incredible country again, and hope it wont be too long before we can return. From 30degree sunshine, we returned to -1 degree UK.
I hope you have enjoyed our journey.
Shardlows Highs 