NZDay1
We approached NZ at 39,000 feet (according to the pilot rather than any skill in measuring altitude) and the skies were crystal clear. Beneath us lay the monumentous southern alps of the south island and it was breathtaking. Nothing gets me more excited than snow and mountains!
We landed in Christchurch at about midday and collected our new backpacker campervan. A new name is being decided upon (result pending). We headed to a budget supermarket and raided the tinned tuna, sweetcorn and kidney beans shelf. A raid that cost $330 NZ dollars, or about £170... Hopefully will last us a couple of weeks... Needless to say the cashier was smirking as she put through over 20 cans of sweet corn, stopped only by the fact that we emptied the shelf.
We loaded the van, which is much bigger than Harold, and headed to a suburb to sleep overnight. The van is a hightop and therefore we can stand making things much more comfortable. The bed is in fact an extendable plank of wood that is hidden above the front cabin. It extends on rails to about 6 foot long and is perched high above the seating and floor area. The distance between the bed and ceiling is only about 15 inches so to enter this caving claustrophobic nightmare requires an olympic gold medal in gymnastics. It's amusing to say the least, but we managed, watched an episode of 'The Wire' and drifted off to sleep.
Day2
We woke up early to the site of low lying mist, green hills and sunshine. A perfect start. We had breakfast and headed to Christchurch city centre. The main reason for wanting to go there is to see and appreciate the devastation caused by the earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. In fact since then, there have been thousands of tremors as recently as yesterday and a 4.5'er at the weekend. We drove to the city and the emptiness and eeriness of the city was palpable. All around we're demolition works and areas cleared of rubble that once housed both heritage buildings and modern architecture. There was scaffolding and supports to many partially collapsed buildings and hundreds of workers in fluorescent orange jackets. We parked up and walked around in silence imagining that some parts of this city could not be too different to the effects of a nuclear disaster. Shops ruined and if not so then abandoned, office blocks empty with the odd orange jacket moving around inside, and whole shopping malls eerily silent. In the distance we saw christchurch cathedral, in amongst then cordoned off city centre. It's famous spire collapsed and missing like a deer without its antlers.
We spoke to a worker who said most people have since left the area and many buildings are now structurally unsafe and being pulled down in a controlled fashion. We wondered around, wishing we could get closer but prevented from doing so by 7 foot high fencing. We were amazed at how beautiful this little city would have been and in many parts still is but for the earthquakes. The 19th century buildings are very British and reminded us of Oxford, indeed it was named after Oxford's famous college. We stumbled upon the famous Canterbury museum, partially reopened to the public and housing a new earthquake disaster section. We were very impressed especially with the history of the native Maori people. The earthquake section was moving (honestly on pun intended) and the pictures and videos often disturbing.
We then headed to a nearby area named 'restart'. This is an initiative by the local people to restart their businesses by using large shipping containers to house their business. They are grouped together in different styles and colours giving the area a bizarrely quirky and positive feel. These shops ranged from clothing to a souvlaki bar! Of course the Greeks are always to be found. The main advantage of these containers is that they would probably survive any magnitude of quake unscathed!
After an inspirational visit we headed to a place called Lake Tekapo about 250km south west of Christchurch. We travelled through incredible mountainous landscape to reach a spectacular lake and mountainous backdrop enveloped by forest. In amongst all of this are some man made hot water pools that we didn't hesitate to jump in. It was great and certainly warmed us up! A great day overall.
