Christchurch NZ

Hi everyone, we are now on "holiday" in Christchurch NZ.  We had a great flight over the mountains, but unfortunately we were not quick enough to get a photo of the snow-capped "Southern Alps."  (We both had our cameras packed away in the overhead compartments.  Hopefully, we will get a couple photos on our return flight to Sydney when we leave.  We will make sure to take some photos when we travel across the "trans-Alpine" train on Sunday and Tuesday.  So stay tuned...)

In the meantime, we are staying at a "backpackers' hostel."  These are very interesting accommodations.  Chris and I first tried it when we visited Rotorua on the north island of NZ.  These hostels are all over AU and NZ.  They are budget accommodations where travelers can share dormitory type rooms with multiple people in one room with a shared bathroom or private rooms with private baths like we have.  Our rooms in both Rotorua and here in Christchurch are very nice.  The rooms have been very clean and the workers at them have been incredibly friendly and helpful.  The travelers and workers at these hostels tend to be young, most of which are either recent graduates of high schools or universities in Europe.  Many of them work for a few months at these hostels for rooms and a little pay before moving on to some other community.  Chris and I both wish we had known more about this when we finished undergraduate school.  Unfortunately, American college graduates do not take advantage of this opportunity to travel. I do not know if it is because they do not know about it or are just not interested.  I will have to ask some of my students when I get back.  In the meantime ... Christchurch.

If you recall, Christchurch was devastated by two earthquakes a little over two years ago.  These earthquakes hit about six months apart and leveled a major part of the CBD.  As a result, 83% of the CBD has been or will be razed.  The community has been devastated.  The people have said that everyone in the community knows someone who did not survive the quake.  The community, however, is determined to rebuild itself -- sadly, it is going to take a long time.  Some are saying it is going to take more than a generation.  Most of the streets in the CBD are empty as well as most of the stores.

Many of the buildings are completely gone.  In some cases they tried to save some of the historical aspects of the architecture by preserving the facades.  The city is filled with shipping containers that are being used for a variety of purposes -- and in this case to support one of the facades of a building (below).

In other parts of the city, the shipping containers have been used for a make-shift mall called the "re:start mall":

Sadly, one of the most familiar sites in Christchurch is the Anglican Cathedral located in the center of the town.  It managed to survive the first of the two earthquakes with some minor damage, but was severally damaged in the second.  The Anglican Church decided to raze it (after deconsecrating it), but the community wants to restore it to its former glory.  For now it sits quietly in disrepair...

After wandering around town for a bit longer, we decided to head for home (i.e., the hostel).  Along the way we came across a couple of interesting statues that survived the quake ...

First, James Cook who first discovered NZ ...

Next, Queen Victoria -- remember Christchurch is the most British-like of their colonies ...

And the Maori (Maw-dee) influence in the area ...

And one last picture of Chris this afternoon sitting in the warm sunshine at the shipping container mall. She is smiling because she is "officially on holiday."

Tomorrow we have a couple of trips around town planned so stay tuned.  Rick