Transition: Christchurch Part 1

After an evening of frantically squashing the belongings that seem to have multiplied over our near six weeks of travelling around by car into our cases ready for travel - whenever that will be - a relatively easy trip to the airport via the car rental return has turned into something more complex. I’ve booked an airport hotel for tonight as our flight to Auckland is now scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, so we drop off our luggage, return the car - saying goodbye to our embarrassingly battered Yaris that’s faithfully seen us through our 6,500 km road trip - get the shuttle back to the airport, then a bus back into town. 

It’s a beautiful day, and it’s good to have more time to see the city, though I must admit I’m not feeling at my best and it’s largely a day of short walks punctuated by long rests! Our accommodation in the city was a brand new small apartment just up the road from the Transitional Cathedral - and that’s very much how the city seems to us - a transitional place. 

As an outsider, I think it’s hard to love Christchurch in its current state. When we visited from the cruise ship, I remarked how good it was the rebuilding of a city had brought about some clarity if planning - all health care centred in one area for example, but now I’m here I find the huge empty spaces - scars of demolished buildings - so soulless despite the efforts to give them creative and recreational purpose.  There are the huge showcase projects - the new conference centre, Te Pae, designed ‘as the city’s gathering place — an architectural and social landmark designed as a welcoming heart in the centre of the city’ which opened in 2021, but on our travels speaking to New Zealanders, there seems to be a frustration that work to restore the city is so slow. 

There are several very impressive examples of street art, but it’s sad to see so much destructive graffiti scrawled on or near these works. Of course, it is almost 12 years since the 2011 quake and its 11,000 aftershocks - hot on the heels of one the previous year; over half the buildings in the city centre had to be demolished, so it is bound to take time to put the heart and soul back into the city. This was New Zealand’s first National State of Emergency - now 12 years on there is another as huge areas of North Island have been devastated; fitting therefore to look at the words on the National Memorial.  

https://www.canterburyearthquakememorial.co.nz

There are many sides to Christchurch - and far more than to it than the superficial impression gained from our brief visit. Today, I’m focusing on the starker aspects - hence the mono theme - but there are the softer and more vibrant sides, the River Avon, the gardens, the people - and tomorrow I’ll come to that. 

Apologies for a rather rambling entry today - it’s a strange time! Today’s images include the Transitions, Cathedral, Te Pae, the art gallery, Regret, a sculpture by local sculptor and painter Sam Mahon displayed in the Botanic Gardens, the rebuilding of Christchurch Cathedral, and the National Memorial. 

Breaking with my usual practice, I’m stepping out of Monday to outline where we are in terms of getting home, though the details will be revealed in each day’s journal - it’s a long story! We now have our long haul flight booked for Friday evening  - so four extra days in NZ! The whole things been a bit of a nightmare for us - but it’s as nothing in comparison to the truly dreadful situations in North Island.