Day 22/23 Christchurch
We stayed three nights in Christchurch during this portion of our trip, before renting a car and venturing further down the south island of New Zealand. Plans are to return to Christchurch at the end of our south island exploration as it is from where we will fly out of the country and to Australia.
During this three night, two day stay, plus our 2 night, 1 day stay at the same motel later in the trip, we explored various sites of the city. We stayed in a studio suite in a very nice modern accommodation, Focus Motel & Executive Suites, managed by a friendly couple. We had a cooktop, a fridge and a spa tub in the small but comfortable room. It cost $613NZ (about $500ca) for 3 nights.
Christchurch, is the second (although some cite Wellington for that title) largest city in New Zealand, with a population of just under 400,000. The CBD (central business district or downtown) has a very unusual feel to it, probably due to its recent history. For some background, Christchurch, as mentioned in the last post, has been subjected to devastating earthquakes. The most recent notable ones being a 7.1 in 2010 and a devastating 6.3 in 2011, which caused loss of lives and massive infrastructure damage.
Following the 2011 quake, the central part of the city had around 1,200 – or 80% – of its buildings demolished, including more than 200 heritage buildings. A sizeable red zone of the cbd was basically vacated of regular occupants for more than two years. The re-build, still ongoing for some items, such as the Christchurch Cathedral, has cost over $40 billion dollars.
Even though there are some beautiful stunning and modern buildings among the post earthquake construction in Christchurch, such as a new convention centre, library, central market, it has the feel of a suburb of a big city. Perhaps because of fewer small, older established mom and pop retail businesses and cafes and residential buildings than you might see in parts of most older downtown city areas. There was some renowned creativity invoked during the rebuild, involving things like the temporary use of shipping containers to quickly reopen some businesses in the city and the Christchurch cbd also does have some stunning outdoor murals painted on various structures.
We did very much enjoy our time exploring Christchurch.
Among the places we visited were the beautiful botanic gardens, the really nice Riverside Market, an area where we ate several meals, the Canterbury Museum, the Arts Centre, New Regent Street, Christchurch Art Gallery, Victoria Square, the Bridge of Remembrance, the Canterbury Earthquake Memorial, “Quake City”, an exhibition that features info and stories from the earthquakes. We also took local buses to the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve, which is about 20min drive from the cbd. Willowbank has various non-native and native New Zealand species, including the renowned Kiwi, a vulnerable flightless bird that is the icon of New Zealand.
We enjoyed some great Greek, Thai and Ramen food in Christchurch. We also ventured to try a Lime scooter rental for a ride back to our motel one evening. That was a bit scary but fun.
Here are some pictures from our visits:
At a fountain in botanic gardens, behind in the picture is a rare historic building, part of “The Arts Centre”
Christchurch, is the second (although some cite Wellington for that title) largest city in New Zealand, with a population of just under 400,000. The CBD (central business district or downtown) has a very unusual feel to it, probably due to its recent history. For some background, Christchurch, as mentioned in the last post, has been subjected to devastating earthquakes. The most recent notable ones being a 7.1 in 2010 and a devastating 6.3 in 2011, which caused loss of lives and massive infrastructure damage.
Following the 2011 quake, the central part of the city had around 1,200 – or 80% – of its buildings demolished, including more than 200 heritage buildings. A sizeable red zone of the cbd was basically vacated of regular occupants for more than two years. The re-build, still ongoing for some items, such as the Christchurch Cathedral, has cost over $40 billion dollars.
Even though there are some beautiful stunning and modern buildings among the post earthquake construction in Christchurch, such as a new convention centre, library, central market, it has the feel of a suburb of a big city. Perhaps because of fewer small, older established mom and pop retail businesses and cafes and residential buildings than you might see in parts of most older downtown city areas. There was some renowned creativity invoked during the rebuild, involving things like the temporary use of shipping containers to quickly reopen some businesses in the city and the Christchurch cbd also does have some stunning outdoor murals painted on various structures.
We did very much enjoy our time exploring Christchurch.
Among the places we visited were the beautiful botanic gardens, the really nice Riverside Market, an area where we ate several meals, the Canterbury Museum, the Arts Centre, New Regent Street, Christchurch Art Gallery, Victoria Square, the Bridge of Remembrance, the Canterbury Earthquake Memorial, “Quake City”, an exhibition that features info and stories from the earthquakes. We also took local buses to the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve, which is about 20min drive from the cbd. Willowbank has various non-native and native New Zealand species, including the renowned Kiwi, a vulnerable flightless bird that is the icon of New Zealand.
We enjoyed some great Greek, Thai and Ramen food in Christchurch. We also ventured to try a Lime scooter rental for a ride back to our motel one evening. That was a bit scary but fun.
Here are some pictures from our visits:
At a fountain in botanic gardens, behind in the picture is a rare historic building, part of “The Arts Centre”
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| Canterbury Earthquake Memorial |
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| Outside of the Riverside Market Pictures below inside Riverside Market: |
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| Christchurch Library on right; convention centre on left |
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| New Regent Street; interesting shops, cafe’s |
No animals were harmed in taking these pictures……
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