Christchurch, New Zealand

Monday 11th March
Christchurch was founded as a well-ordered Church of England enterprise, intended to recreate a slice of England in the South Pacific. The city's heritage is evident in the gothic-style buildings and in the names of streets and rivers such as Avon River, Oxford Road and Cambridge street. The Avon river with its overhanging willows and small punts on the water are reminiscent of traditional English university towns. It brings to mind the words of Neville Shute from his book, A town Like Alice. 'You go to a new country, and you expect things to be different, and then you find there's such a lot that stays the same.'
At the heart of Christchurch is the Cathedral Church of Christ. Building plans were drawn up for the Cathedral shortly after the arrival of the first four ships carrying immigrants to Christchurch, and work began in 1864. Today, it was heartbreaking to photograph this beautiful Cathedral in ruins as a result of the earthquakes in 2011.

Ian likened our walk through the earthquake ruined sector of Christchurch to some war torn town in the Middle East; shattered and derelict. It was an emotional time.

However, the tenacity of the people who live in Christchurch was inspiring. Small business have built premises out of shipping containers in order to continue trading. They have painted and decorated the containers in an attractive way which is an indication of their cheerfulness and determination.

Before we had experienced the devastation of the inner city, Toni and John took us to Hagley park where we walked through the Botanic Gardens, stopped at the Curators Cottage for lunch then on to the museum.

The first signs of Autumn are apparent in the gardens as the leaves on the trees have started to change colour, but in contrast, some of the flowers with their vibrant colours are determined to hold on the the summer.

Lunch at the Victorian Style Curators Cottage was lovely. We sat out in the garden under a huge umbrella and even after we had finished our lunch we were all reluctant to move on.

A meander around selected parts of the museum  was next on the agenda. We learnt how the Moirai's overcame the previous inhabitants (sometimes resorting to cannibalism) to dominate the land of New Zealand before the European settlers arrived. We then wandered through a reconstruction of early European life - even trying out the penny farthing.  

Later in the afternoon, we returned to Toni and John's house where John prepared his speciality dish - a delicious chicken curry, to round off our day.