We had been wanting to go to Christchurch City Centre (the central business district, or CBD) for a while. We saw so much about the post earthquake crisis when we were in NZ during 2013 that the city of Christchurch (Chch) held a certain mystique for us. It was tarnished a bit for me when we stopped there to change buses on our way to Kaikoura at Christmas. It was a big construction zone, it seemed to me, and the bus was not punctual. Not being punctual leaves a bad taste in my mouth...
Anyhoo, we decided to dedicate a Saturday to Chch City Centre. We had driven through Chch a number of times on other excursions and were put off by the traffic. It's the largest city on the South Island, with a population of ~397,000. It has urban sprawl suburbs that have crummy rush-hour traffic. We have come to really enjoy the beach in the suburb of Pegasus, but we are happy to reach Amberley and be free of the traffic that thins out surprisingly quickly on the way to Waikari.
We were most interested in the earthquake museum and the restoration projects. The earthquakes happened during February 2011 and 2012 and we were surprised to see, 6 years later, how much work still needs to be done. Temporary memorials are on the verge of becoming permanent and the sites of crumbled buildings are showing signs of new projects. It took a long time to clear rubble and even longer to evaluate the earth for soundness before it could be zoned for a new building. And it takes a lot of time and money to produce new earthquake-resistant buildings. It's good that they are investing in innovation and technology because more earthquakes will happen. It's guaranteed.
I didn't take too many pictures, but we did a lot of walking around on a beautiful day and we contributed to the rebuilding fund by purchasing "aftersocks," red and black NZ merino socks that feature the seismic readout from the 2010 quake.
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| The crumbling Christchurch Anglican Cathedral |
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| Photos in the Earthquake Museum showing the effects of the quake. |
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| New Regent Street shopping district |
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| White Chairs Memorial dedicated to the 157 people who died in the city centre. The first quake happened at 4:53 am; the second at 12:50 pm on a Tuesday. |
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