Christchurch

An earthquake-damaged church in Christchurch - 5 years later

We took a train from Picton to Christchurch - about a 6 hour ride along the east coast of the south island, which was very picturesque and an enjoyable way to travel, especially for Glen who is usually more focussed on the road than the scenery.   We'll have a chance to explore this area by car later in the trip, so I used the time to do some blog catch-up.  The days here are so action-packed that I don't have much energy for it at the end of a day.

On arrival at the Christchurch train station, we took a cab to the airport to pick up our rental car for this month and then headed to our next AirBnB stop.  We have the top floor of this house pretty much to ourselves.  It has a small kitchen area, but without any cooking facility.  There's a huge lounge, a large bedroom and huge bathroom.  Pretty much 5-star hotel for a 3 star price, and we don't have to deal with elevators!

Our private upstairs lounge

Nice big bright room with lovely views

Our first day out was a drive inland through some very dry countryside to a place called Castle Hill.  It's a large hill that literally looks like a giant came and tumbled some big sculpted rocks all over the top of it.  We had fun climbing up and around them - the pictures don't really capture the essence of the place, but it was well worth the drive.  I'm told that this was a Lord of the Rings location.

Heading inland and west from Christchurch

Super dry farmland with foothills in the distance

Closing in on the mountains.  That's not snow.  It's sandy gravel

We stopped at this lake - the entire foreground is dried-up
lakebed.  They are having a very dry summer here.

Unbelievable scenery.  Funny shadow because I took this
through the windshield as we were driving.

Castle Rocks ahead.  Totally barren landscape
except for these little hills with the rocks dumped on them

They look a little bigger now

Weirdly sculpted, lots with holes in them.

Well, I had to take this one!

And this one.

Looking down the pathway from atop the rocks.
This is seriously beautiful countryside.

On the way back, we found a pie shop in the tiny little town of Sheffield, so we stopped for an early dinner.  Yum!

They claim to have amazing pies here.  It's true!

L&P pop is supposed to be a special
New Zealand recipe lemon-lime flavour.  So we
tried it.  Tastes just like 7-up.  Guess who
bottles it?  Coca Cola.  Sigh.

After our pie, we thought it would be a good idea to walk it
off in this river valley.  A man we met fishing there told us this
is an old train bridge.  Typical of New Zealand, it's a single-lane
bridge on a main highway.  I just find that so odd!

The one-lane bridge!

The second day in Christchurch, we decided to drive around town and then out to the outlying areas of Sumner and Corsair Bay.  First stop was the botanic gardens at Hagley Park - a gorgeous park in the centre of town that is clearly well-used by locals.  Lots of pathways, beautiful gardens, the model yacht club, and Italian-style punt boats on the Avon River.

Punt boats.  You can probably walk across
this river without getting your ankles wet.

Gorgeous Eucalyptus tree.  The 
fragrance was heavenly

Part of the rose garden display

A meeting of the Christchurch Model Yacht Club members

Driving through town, we could see the after-effects of the devastation caused by the earthquake in 2010.  They've had a lot of cleanup to do, and there is still much to be done.  I must admit I don't remember hearing much about it on the news at home, so it was a surprise to see how bad it was.

Can you imagine being in one of these houses
when this happened?  No-one living there now!

They are using cement-filled containers to shore up
the cliffsides along the roadway

The houses in the picture above are at the top of this cliff.
There are a number of places where the old containers have
come to the rescue.  So much work still to be done here on
the cleanup from the earthquake

Corsair Bay is a lovely area outside Christchurch that is accessed by a lot of winding roads along steep cliffs beside a beautiful bay.  Some of the access to it was cut off by earthquake repair crews, but it seems like it's very cut off from the main city even without the roadwork issues.  I can't imagine that people would commute into town from here on a daily basis, as the road is a bit of a challenge.  There were some beautiful homes in the area, all probably with stunning views of the bay.

From a narrow winding road overlooking Corsair Bay.  We drove
all the way out to the end at the far side of the picture.
Gorgeous drive

Some houses tucked into the hillside with a volcanic
cone in the background.  So pretty

We finished off the day with a drive up the hill in Sumner - they really don't seem too concerned with barriers on the sides of roads here - this was a twisting, narrow road that went waaaaay up a steep hill.  My vertigo finally got the best of me, and we had to head back down the hill.  It's so weird.  If there's a barrier on the side of the road, I don't get weak-kneed.  But as soon as that roadside is open to the cliff, the panicky fear sets in.  I know it's completely irrational, but I've never been able to overcome that feeling.

A rather ghastly road to drive - very steep cliffs and no
side barriers.  

There was a lovely view though!  This is a suburb
of Christchurch.  

Saw this sweet little succulent plant
growing on the roadside.

On the beach below there was a cave to play in.

So we went down to the beach and had a look at the cave there, then headed home.  Tomorrow we head south to the town of Timaru.

Love this!