Christchurch post Earthquake

On Thursday February 21, we caught the 10:10 a.m. Intercity bus from Kaikoura to Christchurch.  It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day getting to a high of 29C.  We had a "comfort stop" at Cheviot and then arrived in Christchurch at 1:15 p.m.

Scenic drive to Christchurch

Public toilets are very colourful and clean

The bus drivers often act as tour guides pointing out features and towns along the way.  Our bus driver told us about the only remaining one-way bridge on the South Island as we were about to cross it.

View through the bus at last one-way bridge on the South Island

At we got closer to Christchurch, we passed through the Waipara Valley, which has about 30 wineries specialising in cool-climate wines.  The area has warm, dry summers followed by cool autumn nights.

One of the larger wineries seen from the highway

Large tracts of vines near the highway

Bundled hay in green plastic and cows

Christchurch is New Zealand's oldest city, established in July 1856.  The first people to live there were Moa hunters who arrived in 1250.   The city was named after Christ Church, a college at the University of Oxford.  It is also known as the "Garden City" because of its many beautiful parks, gardens and tree-lined streets.  Its population is around 400,000 and it is New Zealand's third-most populous city behind Auckland and Wellington.  The Avon River flows through the centre of the city, with an urban park located along its banks.  The river was named after the River Avon in Scotland.  

The city suffered two major earthquakes in 2010 and 2011.  The first took place on September 4, 2010.  It measured 7.1 and caused widespread damage to older buildings in the central city- fortunately there were no fatalities.  Then at 12.51 p.m. on February 22, 2011, when the city was busy with shoppers and workers enjoying their lunch break, there was a 6.3 magnitude quake that was centred just 10 km southeast of the city.  The tremor was significantly greater and locals reported being flung violently into the air.  After 24 seconds, the city changed forever.  185 people were dead, 115 died in the six-storey Canterbury TV building, where many international students at a language school were killed.  There were hundreds of aftershocks in the months that followed.  Around 80% of the buildings within the four-block city centre have been or are still due to be demolished.  Plans for a 20 year rebuild include a compact, low-rise city centre with large green spaces.  The rebuild cost is estimated to be around $40 billion.

We are in Christchurch for the 8th anniversary of the 2011 quake.  There have been many new buildings that have been erected in the last eight years.  One also sees wide-open spaces in the city centre- some filled with temporary art projects or parking lots.  Many buildings are still standing in a damaged state.  It has been a real eyeopener for us.  We talked to one woman who lives just outside the city- she said that coming into Christchurch was like entering a bombed out city in a war zone.  Many people have suffered PTSD as a result of the quake and its aftershocks.

The bus station we arrived at is new and modern and houses both Intercity busses and local and regional busses.  We took a local bus to our Airbnb, which is about a 30 minute walk to the city centre.  We are staying in a low rise apartment building in a large one-bedroom apartment with all the conveniences.  The owner lives in the next door unit.

After settling in, we walked into town.  We passed a temporary installation featuring 185 Empty Chairs.  The artist is Pete Majendie.  His statement reads: "185 square metres of grass depicting new growth, regeneration.  185 white chairs, all painted twice by hand in an act of remembrance.  This installation is temporary-as is life".  Very moving piece.

Empty chairs of all types- representing the uniqueness of each person that died in the earthquake

Another view 

As often happens in NZ, we were looking at our guide book and a man came over to see if we needed any help.  We told him we were looking for a nearby place to have a good coffee.   He gave us three suggestions.  We headed over to Arbo in another new building (the ANZ Centre)  and had a very good coffee with C4 coffee.  The café took its name from the six metre tree in the atrium.

Walking to Arbo

Lovely café-- pic taken as it was closing at 4:00 p.m.

First coffee in Christchurch

Tree in Atrium

Just outside the café, we saw two old streetcars which take tourists on city tours.

City tours passing each other

One of the old trams

Lots of construction in the city

Graffitti

We walked across the Avon River.  They are getting ready for a huge Chinese Lantern Festival that is happening on Friday and Saturday evenings.  We will check it out Friday evening.

Dragon lantern being set up in the Avon river

Another view-- lovely urban park

We passed by the new City Council Chambers.

New City Council building

We also passed the Christchurch Art Gallery, the public art gallery funded by Christchurch City Council.  The modern building opened in 2003 and was designed to deal with seismic events.  However, even though it suffered some damage in the 2011 quake, it was used as a Civil Defence headquarters for seven months after the quake.  It only reopened to the public in 2015.  We will be visiting on the weekend.

Christchurch Art Gallery

The sculpture in the forecourt is called Reason for Voyaging- a collaboration between sculptor Graham Bennett and the architect David Cole

We continued our walk to the I-Site Visitor Centre, which is housed in an old gothic style building that also houses The Arts Centre.   We noticed a sign for the memorial service to be held on February 22.

 

We then went for a drink at Fiddlesticks, just across from the Art Gallery.  Very pleasant to sit outside with a very good glass of Pinot Noir.

Loved the glass-- LOL, OMG and TGIF levels for the wine pour

Leaving Fiddlesticks- we had been sitting at the now empty bar table outside

Another view of the city tour tram and Gallery

We wandered a bit more and passed the severely damaged Christ Church Cathedral, the iconic symbol of Christchurch.  The Cathedral was built between 1864-1904.  The spire and part of the tower was destroyed.  The remainder of the tower was demolished in 2012.  The Anglican Church decided to demolish the building-- various heritage groups opposed this move and even went to court opposing the demolition. While the church won most of the judgments, no further demolition occurred.  By September 2015, an independent negotiator was appointed.  In late December 2015, there was agreement with the negotiator's report which meant that the Anglican church would for the first time consider reinstatement of the building.  In September 2017, it was decided that the Cathedral will be reinstated.  The project is expected to take 7-10 years.

Extensive damage to the Cathedral

Side view

There was an amazing sculpture located just beside the Cathedral in Cathedral Square.  It is Neil Dawson's Chalice sculpture which was created in 2001 to celebrate the new millennium and the 150th anniversary of the founding of Christchurch and Canterbury.  It is made up of 42 leaf patterns featuring different native plants.  It looks like an inverted spire.  It survived the February 2011 earthquake.

Chalice

We passed by another art installation - Oversized chairs

Isaac Theatre Royal

More graffiti 

Closed design and art college

Another great sign in a coffee shop

On the way back to our apartment, we passed the back of the Cardboard Cathedral, the transitional cathedral where services now take place.  It was designed by architect Shigeru Ban and opened in August 2013.  Ban, who is characterised as a "disaster architect". designed the building pro bono.  It is A-frame in style and incorporates 86 cardboard tubes.  Eight shipping containers form the walls.  It seats around 700 people.

Back of the Cardboard Cathedral 

We had a lovely dinner at the apartment with fresh corn, red cod and green beans.  Still working our way through a bottle of Richmond Plains Chardonnay-- very good.