First Day Out And About In Christchurch

I caught the bus into the town... it took ages! Well only like 20mins but it was still long.  The whole way I could see the damage then I got to the city centre - if you could even call it that. It was completely in ruins. Crazy! It was exactly 2 years from the big earthquake and there was still rubble everywhere.

I walked from the temporary bus station to the museum where the tourist information was. The tourist info place was so tiny, a little shed thing! The queue was massive so I decided to go into Canterbury Museum - it was free :)! The lady at the info desk was SO nice! She was all like , "you came all this way to visit us sweety? Come here for an adventure?" Nicest person ever! :) The museum was okay, lots of moa and Maori stuff. There was a replica house of an old man and woman who collected all these weird blue shells which covered the ENTIRE wall - everywhere! (Hahah my mum has one! :P)

Shell House

Penny Farthing

Moa

Then I paid into the Scott's Last Expedition section - all about his journey to the South Pile - where he got there after Ammundenson and then die on his way back. It was interesting after the ESCI132 Antarctica course last term, (put probably not worth the money). It had his navy uniform, books, kit, food- lots of things. There were even some amazing sketch books and photographs. I nearly started swinging digs at this loud American woman who was walking around saying really loudly, " This is rubbish, he didn't even do anything! All he did was die!"ARRRGHHH - seriously?!!! Then I almost left my camera on the ground! :( There were some other cool stuff in the museum like old clothes (so pretty!) and they had "Christchurch Street" which was a model street from the 1800s, cool! Plus they had a penny farthing - couldn't stop laughing!

Oh! I also saw a bus in the town going to Belfast! :D I would've liked to have gone but its just a suburb... nothing to see.

Punting on the Av

Gardens

After the museum I booked a bus tour around the city (it was on an old fashioned red open top London Bus). I went upstairs and it had good views. Waiting fro the bus I walked around the Christchurch Botanical Gardens, they were really pretty, the River Avon, flows right through it and there were people kyaking and there were even gondolas going up it. (Called punting here) The wee man was wearing a waistcoat and straw hat. Cute! the rose garden was so pretty - lots of different colours.

Giraffe!

The tour was ok. There wasn't much to see around the city. There were 2 big clocks and they both stopped at the exact time the 2011 quake struck. Saw the Catholic Basilica - it was in ruins too. you could see the safe lying open at the top floor. The guide said that during the quake the statue of Mary rotated 180 degrees and turned facing the city and people saw it as a "sign". CREEPY. The massive rugby/cricket stadium was derelict had just been finished for the rugby world cup in 2011 when the quake hit. The stand tilted forward 40 degrees and one moved forward 40cm! Now it is just empty.


I went around the red zone, saw the new cardboard cathedral that is being built, there was a memorial of chairs for the people who died, right opposite the old CCTV building. People had left lots of flowers there (also at the Remembrance Bridge.. it was really sad : (  . There were more empty streets and I saw the ruined Cathedral - I remember seeing it on TV - scary and really eerie.

Abandoned Christchurch City Centre

Got off the bus and went back to the gardens, there was a man doing questionnaires, so I did one. He was nice and said he was in Belfast in 1990 and he has never been so scared with men coming around the corner in tanks with a machine gun on top! It was weird. Had a sit around the gardens enjoying the sun. They have this thing like a giant golf buggy in the shape of a catapillar that goes around the gardens it had a face too - cute! :D

Container City

I dandered down to "container city" the shopping centre made out of shipping containers. There's a random Hotel Ibis right on the red zone! The container shops were cool but not what I expected after all the hype... was  a let down. Also it was supposed to be the city centre -  it was a Saturday afternoon and it was deserted - you really can walk down the middle of a street. If not for the tourists it would be empty.



I got some curry and ate it in the park ... it was pretty nasty. I got the bus back to New Brighton, and some sort of gang sat beside me :S. Getting back to the backpackers I collected my bag and went to the linen room where I would be sleeping! Although the woman had got me a bag of chocolates to say sorry :). (In the shape of ducks!)  There was some weird fan machine thing in there and it was so noisy!!! It was freezing too, had to put my hoodie on over my pyjamas. The shower rooms were... ok... they were raised up off the ground and there was  a gap at the top and bottom of the door, so it was really weird getting undressed, had to crouch weird so noone could see.   Oh and again I saw the 2 Danes at the museum. Scundered!  They must think that I'm stalking them! ... Or maybe they are stalking me... >__>

My "Room" in the Linen Cupboard

There's so many Irish people in Christchurch... seriously is there even a need? I came here to try and get away from them all at home! I heard some guy walking past talking in his big broad Belfast accent " YER EFT-POSSST NAT WORKIN'?" - scundered for yee! In the backpackers there were loads too, they all seem to be builders.

Was really paranoid about someone trying to get into the linen room while I was asleep. I couldn't put my bag against the door because there's too much clutter and I didn't want to block my way out during an earthquake... there was  a load of shit in that room that could've fallen on me...