If visiting Queenstown IS NOT on your life bucket list, add it. If visiting Christchurch IS on your life bucket list, shred the list and start a new one. The drive from Queenstown (more on that in a future short blog post) was easy (albeit long). Except for the last four kilometers, as we hit rush hour and crawled along.
There aren't many things to
take pictures of in Christchurch.
This sculpture is one of the few.
Once we hit the exit for the City Centre, the traffic got a lot better, although we still crawled because just as one light turned green, the next one would turn red. It was also weird driving with so many traffic lights. I believe there is one light in Queenstown (and none between Qtown and Christchurch) – Qtown uses circles to sort out turns. Circles with no lights, so the traffic keeps flowing.
There hasn't been much progress on the
cathedral that was badly damaged by
the 2011 earthquake.
Anyhow, we arrived around 6pm, baffled by all of the damaged buildings and construction. Then we remembered the earthquake of 2011, which damaged/destroyed many buildings in the centre of the city. Our hotel was an old government building, and apparently survived relatively unscathed.
After dragging our bags to the room, which was an affordable two room suite with a nice sitting area and small kitchenette, we changed and headed out to explore Christchurch.
It was a ghost town. They apparently roll up the sidewalks at 5pm. There was no worries about getting hit by cars, primarily because only a couple of vehicles were on the street. It is the deadest downtown we’ve ever been in.
A small part of the botanical gardens.
We walked past the damaged cathedral – the whole back wall had crashed off, and through the empty streets. There certainly was a lot of rebuilding going on, although some damaged buildings are simply closed – no work has been done. I have to believe that in ten years Christchurch will be nicer, but the lack of restaurants downtown will keep people away after work.
Beautiful fountain in the gardens.
The MP for Christchurch
donated the money for a
memorial to. . .himself!
There is some interesting public art sculptures, but no one walking through town to enjoy it when we were strolling. We went into the Botantical Gardens, where we caught glimpses of the occasional jogger or couple walking. It is a little too early in spring for the Gardens to be in full, um, flower, but between the fountains, the trees, the ponds, the river, and the flowers that were, um, flowering, it was still beautiful. Just empty, even though it is daylight savings time.
It is early spring in Christchurch, so
not many flowers were out yet.
We found the New Zealand plant section, and Maddy commenced searching for the silver fern, which is the icon of New Zealand. (The country is voting on a new flag, and a design with a silver fern is the best looking of the options, IMHO). Carol spotted a big one – and it was neat to look at the green tops of the leaves and the silver under the leaves. It was getting toward dusk, so we lit up the undersides with our camera flashes. Very cool.
Silver fern, the symbol of NZ
Then we came to the park next door (yes, a park next to a park – instead of one big park!). To be fair, this park (North Hagley Park in case you ignore my advice and ever get to Christchurch) had some playing fields and tennis courts. And a big pond called “Victoria Lake.” So, between Madeleine wine and Victoria Park (and Street and Square), we now have to find something named “Julia” to cover all the daughter bases.
Three roses.
We walked over to Victoria Street, which is the one vibrant street with restaurants we saw in our strolls throughout the city. Oddly, all of the shops were closed, so even though the street was livelier, it wasn’t fully alive.
Cherry blossoms
Dinner was at a Thai fusion restaurant. The food was great, but the kitchen was a mess. They brought my food, and Maddy’s food out. But not Carol’s. Not the rice either. I was virtually done with my delicious prawn and pork Vietnamese pancake (I cut it like a quesadilla to eat it) when Carol’s chicken finally showed.
Clock tower, and a remarkable
sight behind it -- a building with
lights on at night! We
ate dinner at that restaurant.
It’s an open kitchen, so we could watch as the Thai chefs bickered with each other and with the wait staff. Good times.
So, I asked our waitress for the check. It was 8:45 and the place was winding down. She said she would bring it right away. She promptly forgot, as we watched her clear off four tables and deal with other stuff. I asked for it again – and she haughtily replied, “I will bring it soon, or you can pay at the front.” The latter option was easy, but she hadn’t made us aware of it the first time.
On our way back through the abandoned streets, we were followed by a guy in a knit cap. We moved quickly, but he peeled off at some point – false alarm! We did get back to the hotel in record time!
I’m not sure we even heard a car one floor up as we enjoyed our bottle of Aurum Pinot!
I've got a lot more catching up to do on the blog, but we're off to Kaikoura to swim with the dolphins. In the wild!
No comments:
Post a Comment