A Walk Around Christchurch

So for the first time we decided to go and have a look at Christchurch. The Rough Guide we have is pre the earthquake, so describes the city as ‘exuding a palpable air of gentility and a strong connection with the mother country. Named after an Oxford college, it has some feel of a traditional English university town with its neo-Gothic architecture and a gently winding river Avon.’

England?

It is certainly true, what remains is an absolute delight and it feels very English. From one of the river bridges we could see men with straw boaters plying for business on the punts on the river and even the river looks similar to the Avon at, say Stratford-On-Avon in the UK. Beautiful, solid looking neo-Gothic buildings are everywhere and the nearby Hagley Park with its Botanical Gardens was an absolute delight to walk round, finishing with tea and cakes at a cafe near the end.

bathing sparrow, and a silvereye

big eucalyptus tree in the Botanical Gardens

sadly the water is a horrible colour as all the water drained away in the earthquake and they've had to be re-lined

It is satisfying that at least some of the city remains, but the heart has been ripped out and is a scene of utter devastation. Even nearly two years after the event the centre is sealed off with demolition work still on going with huge amounts of work still to be done. The city is laid out in a grid pattern, so the streets are long and straight, so it’s possible to see at a distance the cathedral, which was at the centre of the quake and subject of so much controversy. I zoomed in as much as our basic camera would allow and, although the roof still seems mainly intact, the front wall has gone as has its steeple. Certain groups want to demolish it altogether, as it is the centre of the city, but others want to keep it, maybe repairing it, or even making what remains safe and leaving it as is, rather like the old Coventry Cathedral in the UK, bombed during the last way, left as it was and a new modern Catherdral built next door.

A view down the closed Worcester Street towards the cathedral

The cathedral

A condemned building - note the tilt

Other areas are like a ghost town, weeds growing through pavements, grand buildings damaged and condemned but not yet demolished. The Copthorn Hotel, a tall grand building stands stopped in time. Tables and chairs on a first floor balcony set for dinner, just as they were on the day of the earthquake, but now the building is fenced off, two years of weeds have grown and big demolition lorries stand by. Apparently the main library, close to the catherdral, collapsed in the quake, trapping all the books which are still inside the unsafe building.

A once busy street now a 'ghost town'

Slightly out from the centre other grand building stand showing their damage. Some are boarded up, scaffolding support parts and steeples have been carefully taken down to ground level for rebuild. Blocks and brickwork are stacked nearby, often labelled up showing their location in a jigsaw, ready to be rebuilt. 

The grand council buildings under reconstruction

New roof and the steeple on the ground being reconstructed (just above the man's head on the right of the crossing)

Other areas have just a gap where once a building stood, like gaps in a mouth that has had several teeth taken out. The scale of the work to be done is vast and the money required is huge. It will take Christchurch and New Zealand a long time to recover from this, but this is no reason not to visit, it still has parts that are a delight and they need visitors and their money more than ever!

We visited one area called Re:START, which has been reconstructed on some of the old ruins using modified shipping containers and shows how resilient people can be in the face of such devastation. It is a modern, vibrant area of shops and café’s, all using shipping containers. The ground was levelled and tarmacked, the containers modified by adding windows, painting them in bright colours and stacking them in artistic ways. The result is an eye-catching modern area that is a delight to be in and shows what can be done with minimal cost to bring part of the ruins back to life. It was full of people, was very lively and we could have stayed there for hours!

The lively Re:START centre

We have not yet visited outlying areas, where we understand people’s houses have been either destroyed or are condemned through being in danger of collapse or damage from nearby rockfalls and we think this might be quite emotional. About 40,000 people have been displaced, out of a population in Christchurch of 350,000 and we understand some people are still without proper sanitation. 

Housing, both to buy and rent are in very short supply and expensive and a lot of people have moved to the West, less damaged part of the city where the infrastructure is unable to cope with the increase. Yesterday we went shopping in this area and got caught up in the traffic, so we know first-hand how difficult it has made life for people living there, but it doesn’t seem to have phased them, everyone is still laid back, bright and cheerful. What resilient people they are!

Really we’ve done very little, but that was the plan, I’ve cooked roast lamb and made beefburgers which are now in the freezer, shepherds pie tonight! B made the most ridiculous chocolate and walnut brownies – walnuts from the garden. We may not see Christmas as despite both having lost weight, the cholesterol and sugar intake from one brownie may just be too much!

The cats are getting used to us, though ‘Big Tig’ wandered around yesterday with a bit of a mournful call, he then came and lay on the bed. Last night was the first one that Tiffany came in before 0300, so that was a nice surprise. They go out at dusk (which is about 21.45) and come in when we call them, in theory, before bed, so we’ve had to start going to bed a little later than the 2200 we were doing, but that’s ok! Ustinov is the funniest though, he comes in really miaowing, so you try food, water, milk, but no, he wants to be picked up, layed on his back and cuddled like a baby, for hours (well it feels like it with his weight!) His paw comes up to your face, and the purring can be heard the other side of the room! We had Rosie and Tigger on the bed this morning, when I went to the loo, B was trying to curl up, but the weight of Rosie was preventing him moving the duvet around him! Fortunately it’s warm!

Christmas means relaxation!

After a few weeks of rushing around (by our now laid back standards), we’re now taking time out for Christmas and the New Year, by ‘Housesitting’ (and cat sitting), here in Irwell, a village about 20 or 30km South-West of Christchurch, while owner John takes time out to visit his step-sons and family in Queensland, Australia (our next stop after we leave NZ next May). We’ve swapped the campervan for a nice Nissan Sunny saloon car with automatic transmission. Its old (188,000km), but its clean, goes well, has a big boot and, best of all, its got air-con!

Irwell is in the Canterbury Plains, which is a relatively flat (and big) area of fertile land just inland from Christchurch, in the blackcurrant capital of the world (in season the Ribena lorries form a steady stream apparently). The village comprises about 17 houses, spread out in big plots of land and all looking very picturesque. Generously sized 3 bedroom bungalows of mainly wooden construction  (just as well after they got heavily shaken in the earthquake, everything on shelves thrown to the ground – there’s still a few things stuck down with blue-tack!) with plenty of indoor space, with large gardens and paddocks that are all now in full bloom. It’s quiet and the perfect place to relax, which we have every intention of doing!

John is a smashing guy who we got on well with from the off, but he’s had a tough couple of years, having lost his wife only in late September of this year after 18 months of illness, John devoting all his time to looking after her. We didn’t find out too much about the last two years of Patsy’s life as John is still pretty grief stricken, but we did hear a lot about their lives prior to that and they were obviously a devoted couple and very happy. 

We had a day and a half with John and had a very laid back and enjoyable time chatting, cooking, meeting his four cats and, last night, getting an Indian take-away meal from the nearest village, Lincoln.  There was plenty of banter (Jackie told me I’d have to allow a bit more time to pick the takeaway up because of the rush hour, John agreed saying I’d have to add at least 17 seconds onto my journey time!), particularly when we helped John pack for his trip. We helped him pack a dinner service in bubble wrap and clothes that he was taking to give to his step-son and that caused plenty of amusement and entertainment for cats with boxes! Didn’t envy him carrying a cardboard box weighing 22Kg with a handle we’d made out of string and cardboard!

John and Jackie discussing the finer points of packing

Box amusement for Tiffany and Tigger

We had been to Lincoln earlier in the day, it’s about 10 minutes drive there (and half an hour back as we got lost! We’ve got it sorted now though) and has just about everything we’ll need: a New World supermarket, Chinese, Indian, Italian and fish and chip takeaways and restaurants, plenty of shops, café’s and coffee houses and the Famous Grouse pub with good food and beer (brand new as well – the original building apparently collapsed in the earthquake and has only just been rebuilt), there is also a library that has free wi-fi available 24/7, even when they are not open!! You just pull up outside and connect for unlimited broadband, we even saw someone connected to it in the coffee house over the road – ideal! We intend going there at pre-arranged times to have Skype conversations with people. Anyone for a video call one evening (morning for us)?

This morning I was up at 4:00am to take John to the airport, so this is now our first day in charge of 4 pussy cats and a house. We met Pete next door, a friendly guy in his 70’s who lives on his own and carves wood in his shed – a great, well equipped shed and he’s got plenty of really good wood, salvaged from collapsed buildings! Any help we want, he said, just ask. Mac also came over from across the road (that South African accent stood out!) and Jackie spoke to his wife Dawn on the phone later, so we can call on any of these people, and of course John by phone, if we are unsure of anything.

The 4 cats are Tiffany, a small Norwegian Forest Cat with big paws (she’s the mother of the other 3, who are all 10 years old), Rosie, black with white paws, chest and whiskers, Tigger a tabby and Ustinov, a tabby with white paws. The three offspring are huge cats in comparison to the slight Tiffany and we weighed Ustinov at 8kg last night, the others being a similar size! They’ve all got their own personalities and habits, so we’ve had the run down of each of them, written down in case we forget. I’ve also had a lesson on driving Victa, the ride on lawn mower and we’ve had a guided tour of the grounds, pointing out the various fruit trees, everything fruit you can think of and a walnut tree (never seen one of those before).

Tiffany

Rosie (Note to self: don't forget to feed the fish!)

Big Tigger taking it easy

Ustinov having a bit of fuss

So now we’re all set, the cats are happy and seemed to have accepted us, so now we’re chilling out on the patio in the heat. Its superb mid summer weather here with a clear blue sky and our main concern is not to spend too long in the sun! I think I must have died and gone to heaven! Did someone say it’s nearly Christmas? Surely not!

Jackie: A good synopsis of the house, I just have a few things to add about the people here. We’ve been looking for some fold up camping chairs since we got the van, the ones it comes with are indestructible, but not too comfortable, but they stopped issuing the green ones since they proved not man enough for the job a few times! However all the hardware /homeware stores we’ve asked in have said, oh no, can’t stock those things now, not since ‘those shops’ sell them so cheap, only we hadn’t managed to find any of ‘those shops’. Updating the blog etc on the am before we left the van in the site kitchen there was a pile of 4 chairs with a sign, “free to good home” It must be Christmas! 

We then popped into a shopping centre to find a Vodafone shop to try and sort out our internet connection, there was a queue, so I went across to look in the jewellers (well you do don’t you?) I was honest though and said to the lady not to waste her time on me I was just passing the time, she said two things, why Vodafone, Telecom over there is much better (and no queue) and would you like me to clean your jewellery for you? How fab is that?

John has just rung to say he’s arrived safe and sound and so has the dinner service! Perhaps we have missed our vocations?