Able to catch up at last. It' been a hectic few days. The journey to Christchurch was uneventful, other than picking two young German hitch hikers up on the outskirts of Lake Tekapo. They were quite happy to be going to Christchurch via Temaru, which was described to us as a seaside town. Blackpool it was not. In fact I would say that there was more sand at Travis Perkins in Horwich. Hence, there are no pictures of the place.
We dropped the girls off at the bus station in Christchurch then went to check in at our motel for the next three nights, The Arena Motel in the suburb of Addington, less than ten minutes from the city centre.
The following morning, Wednesday 20th March we had a ride out to the pretty coastal village of Akaroa. This was predominantly a French settlement back in the days of discovery and adventure. It took about 90 minutes to drive
over the mountains to it. It was in another time zone, beautiful. The sunny weather had returned as forecast which added to the trip. There was an American passenger liner in the bay and all the passengers were ferried ashore by a launch, so it was quite a busy little village.
After lunch we boarded the ferry in one of the bays for a 2 hour sail, out of the safety of this vast natural deep bay, out into the Pacific Ocean. Whilst out on the boat we saw more fur seals,numerous sea birds and lots of Hector's Dolphins. They are only about 4ft long,a native of New Zealand and very rare. Akaroa sits in the crater of a dormant volcano. The Pacific eventually breached part of the wall and flooded the basin. All the passenger ships that call in are able to anchor off shore in safety and ferry passengers ashore.
On our way back to Christchurch we picked up a young Belgium hitch hiker. He was on his 6th gap year and his name was Steven. Sound familiar? Must be something in the name I reckon.
Today, 21st March we had to return our car to the airport after four enjoyable weeks of touring around South Island. We covered 4,065 kms in that time. So it was back to public transport and a bus back into the city to have a look at what has changed in the last month.
The Red Zone (no go area) has been expanded as reconstruction moves on block by block. Visited the RC Cathedral on foot to take some more pictures from all sides.
There is widespread use of containers around the city to shore up buildings. As you can see from the close up shots, there are big cracks in the structure still standing. Our Lady's Grotto didn't fully escape the quake.
Still, fences cordon off areas parts of the city where buildings are in the process of being pulled down.
As I mentioned in my previous blog from Christchurch, the Anglican Cathedral was too badly damaged to be rebuilt so a new temporary one constructed from cardboard tubes. Work was halted on it due to court action by some who wanted the old Cathedral rebuilt regardless of the cost. They must have lost their case as work was ongoing today. If looked after and maintained it should last for up to 50 years according to the Japanese architect.
The part of the city that was cleared and "opened up for business" shortly after the quake, known as The Restart Centre is still the focal point for tourists to congregate. All the shops,cafe's, banks, toilets etc. are constructed from containers.
We stumbled on the RC Pro Cathedral only to find that cordoned off.
The following morning, Wednesday 20th March we had a ride out to the pretty coastal village of Akaroa. This was predominantly a French settlement back in the days of discovery and adventure. It took about 90 minutes to drive
over the mountains to it. It was in another time zone, beautiful. The sunny weather had returned as forecast which added to the trip. There was an American passenger liner in the bay and all the passengers were ferried ashore by a launch, so it was quite a busy little village.
After lunch we boarded the ferry in one of the bays for a 2 hour sail, out of the safety of this vast natural deep bay, out into the Pacific Ocean. Whilst out on the boat we saw more fur seals,numerous sea birds and lots of Hector's Dolphins. They are only about 4ft long,a native of New Zealand and very rare. Akaroa sits in the crater of a dormant volcano. The Pacific eventually breached part of the wall and flooded the basin. All the passenger ships that call in are able to anchor off shore in safety and ferry passengers ashore.
On our way back to Christchurch we picked up a young Belgium hitch hiker. He was on his 6th gap year and his name was Steven. Sound familiar? Must be something in the name I reckon.
Today, 21st March we had to return our car to the airport after four enjoyable weeks of touring around South Island. We covered 4,065 kms in that time. So it was back to public transport and a bus back into the city to have a look at what has changed in the last month.
The Red Zone (no go area) has been expanded as reconstruction moves on block by block. Visited the RC Cathedral on foot to take some more pictures from all sides.
There is widespread use of containers around the city to shore up buildings. As you can see from the close up shots, there are big cracks in the structure still standing. Our Lady's Grotto didn't fully escape the quake.
Still, fences cordon off areas parts of the city where buildings are in the process of being pulled down.
As I mentioned in my previous blog from Christchurch, the Anglican Cathedral was too badly damaged to be rebuilt so a new temporary one constructed from cardboard tubes. Work was halted on it due to court action by some who wanted the old Cathedral rebuilt regardless of the cost. They must have lost their case as work was ongoing today. If looked after and maintained it should last for up to 50 years according to the Japanese architect.
The part of the city that was cleared and "opened up for business" shortly after the quake, known as The Restart Centre is still the focal point for tourists to congregate. All the shops,cafe's, banks, toilets etc. are constructed from containers.
We stumbled on the RC Pro Cathedral only to find that cordoned off.
No comments:
Post a Comment