Kristen and the Continents: Stop 9: Christchurch

For those of you who don’t know, Christchurch had three bad earthquakes in the past three years and is pretty much demolished as a city. I wanted to go just to see what there was to see and I really wished I could have seen what it looked like before. The gardens were really pretty and some of the architecture was really unique. Most of all the bad destruction has already been demolished so there are a lot of empty lots, but almost every other building in the town center, along with hundreds if not thousands of homes are still to be demolished.

Finding a hostel is difficult because there aren’t many left and what accommodation is left is housing residents and people who came to work. The first day I walked around town (or through what is still open to walk through), the gardens and the museum which had a really awesome exhibit on the earthquakes. Then I caught a tour the hostel did (which ended up being a personal tour) given by a local police officer. He took me all over the city and its suburbs and showed me a lot of the damage and what all was going to be demolished. It was really sad to see all these places that were so dear to the people blocked off. Shipping containers lined the roads to protect them from potential landslides.

The Park

The top of the church that fell off

close up of the damage

Beach in Christchurch!

The portside of Christchurch

Christchurch from above

That night I met up with Agustin (from Picton and Motueka) and it was fun to hear what he had done since I had last seen him. The next day I woke up and went to the Re:Start Mall to grab a bite to eat and sit in the sun and read. Its really cool what they have done. They used a bunch of shipping containers to make makeshift stores. There is a little food court area and since it was the weekend there was live music. The weather was absolutely beautiful (dare I say hot?) and I was really glad I walked around. For as little as there is left, the people have a really great attitude and are really doing a lot to help each other out. The tour guide said people are much more laid back now because they realize how many things aren’t that important anymore. I was also impressed to learn that part of taxes goes to an earthquake fund, so people actually get some money from the government (and then insurance companies) to help rebuild.