We had arranged a 1 hour Open Top Double Decker City Highlights Tour for this morning. We drove the car a little up Bealey St where we parked the car and then walked for 25min to the Museum and I centre where we were due to join the tour. It was a lovely walk alongside the Avon River which flows next to the parklands and into the city centre. It is very chilly but we expect good weather today with a high of 14C expected. The tour was interesting and covered the history, how Christchurch is recovering from the recent earth quakes and viewed a lot of areas affected by the earthquakes and e rebuild vision for restoring the city. An interesting point was on Chasel St where retailers have converted storage containers to a Shipping Container Mall. When the tour finished back at the Museum we decided to wonder back to the ReStart Shipping Container Mall for a closer look. We went over the Bridge of Remembrance and then wondered around the Mall fascinated at the concept. Banks were even represented. We then wondered back and Karen called whilst we were walking so we chatted with her as she has started their trip from Queenstown and are headed to Franz Joseph. We then went to the Museum and spent an hour wondering through the many interesting areas of the Museum. We then decided to find a seat in the Botanical Gardens so we could eat our packed lunch. By now the sun is shining and it was a pleasant experience. We were looking at the map of Christchurch and decided we would go to the beach at New Brighton. We walked back to the car and set the GPS for New Brighton. Well we had to divert many times as the amount of rebuild of roads and houses meant roads were closed. It was very frustrating as the voice in the box would keep trying to take us back on the roads that were closed. We finally arrived and were surprised that you couldn't see the sea from the road due to the natural build up of sand. We drove to the Pier and decided to walk the 700m to the end. It was a modern Pier and had obviously been replaced recently. Maybe after the earthquakes. At the end of the Pier there were people fishing and I stopped to chat with them. We then headed back and again needed to detour many times before we arrived back at the Motel. I rang the car hire company to ensure delivery and airport transfers. I also arranged for a later check out time of 11am.
