Day 22: Christchurch

Scottie’s Story

We are getting used to the rain in New Zealand, it is a bit like home, just as wet but a few degrees warmer.

We had planned doing things that were under cover / indoor, so another Uber journey to the tram ticket office where we boarded the tourist tram. We got to see a good bit of Christchurch while we stayed dry. A lot of buildings, over 1000 were damaged in the last earthquake and a lot of them were still closed and held up with seriously heavy duty “scaffolding”. We got off the hop in hop off tram at Quake City – no guesses what that was all about. There was a ton of information, photos, videos and displays of stuff damaged in the earthquakes over the years and some really interesting information about how they have worked out ways to make buildings more quake-resistant. The residents were asked how they wanted their quake damaged city to be rebuilt and the wanted a low rise city so there is now a limit to the height of new buildings – it was not just aesthetics, but the lower buildings reduced the wind tunnel effect. So much information – another “not to be missed” place to visit for adults and children as there was even a lego area for children to rebuild the city as well as a few fun things to touch / jump on.

Time for food, but the rain was even more insistent so we did not want to spend time getting drenched looking for food so we ended up in a department store restaurant and actually had a decent meal. I had avocado and poached egg on sourdough bread, which is something I regularly have at the Rocky back home and I have to say that the Rocky version wins that particular contest, although what I had was nice and I had no complaints. It was a nice light lunch, which was all I needed.

After lunch it was Uber time again and the puddles en route home showed that the rain had been going non-stop with no sign of a break. The afternoon was for hibernating in the dry and catching up on this blog, before packing in readiness for our flight to Auckland tomorrow. Adios Christchurch, thank you for reminding us of the UK weather, we felt very at home.

Rob’s Reflections

Christchurch again

The weather forecast was rain all day, so we took a strategic decision to avoid being outside: taxi in, followed by a tram tour round the city.

The vehicles are reconditioned originals, and the first one we took was partially open to the elements. Unsurpisingly no-one took advantage of that section. There was a running commentary describing the areas of the city, and the buildings either affected by the earthquakes or replaced after them.

A quick dash from one of the stops got us to Quake City, and exhibit that told the story of the devastation Christchurch faced back in 2010/11. It had everything from static displays, videos, practical demonstrations of seismometer detections, liquefaction with sand, and even some Lego. I managed to resist the Lego.

After a meal in the department store Ballantynes we made our way home – taxi again, it was still raining – and started preparing for our next journey – back to North Island.