We left Anacortes on a partly sunny day, about 47 degrees, and arrived in sunny and 70 degree Christchurch about 24 hours later. Thus began our 3 month exploration of Aotearoa New Zealand, with a 2-week side trip to visit some old friends in Australia. Kate had this country on her radar since before Covid; for me, it’s a return visit after 40 year.
Our 13 1/2 hour flight from San Francisco started out quite bumpy, as we flew through the leading edge of what was and still is (!) a series of “atmospheric rivers” that have flooded California. All we suffered was some spilled wine. We missed our connecting flight from Auckland to Christchurch … but no worries, mate, the oh-so-friendly Kiwi staff got us rebooked on the next flight just an hour later.
Christchurch - a Seattle sister city - was one of the few times we will be without a car, so we walked everywhere. And our old knees, feet, and backs are feeling it! It’s a city of contrasts now: some beautiful old and new buildings, amazing playgrounds, a vibrant riverside market, fun public art, a very cool library; and buildings still showing major damage from the 2010/2011 earthquakes. Some blocks and structures reminded me of photos from war-ravaged Ukraine.
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| First Kiwi beer, neighborhood pub |
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| Kate under a 140 year old Himalayan cedar in Christchurch’s botanic gardens |
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| New Zealand fantail |
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| Christchurch’s main cathedral, huge reconstruction project after the 2011 earthquake … still! |
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Trompe l’oeil near Christchurch’s central
market … that building wall is actually flat! |
The earthquakes have left more than physical scars. At the Quake Museum, we watched some amazing video interviews with people who lived through the quake and its aftermaths, powerful personal stories of trauma and loss, and rebirth. On our last day, we bicycled for about 22 km and saw some of the “redlined” areas, whole neighborhoods - as usual, mostly lower income - whose houses were destroyed by liquidating ground, leaving huge tracts of land uninhabitable (the city offered substantial financial support for these homeowners, but whether it was “just” I just don’t know). But now these areas are being protected as nature reclaims them.
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| Redlined former neighborhood |
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| Christchurch Art Gallery |
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Great interior architecture in the city library
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All in all, a good start to our trip.
[P.S. I’m struggling with formatting, hopefully will improve on future posts.]
Gary
ReplyDeletevery cool aaron, good job on the tech stuff. We loved that cathedral before it was wiped out, and the english garden there which we ran thru in the mornings. I've wondered what bits of it remained, it was immaculate before. We found lots of like minded people in NZ, hope you do as well and enjoy it as much as I did-
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BB
What a great fantail shot! II spent so much time chasing those flighty birds but never got a photo as good as yours of the tail completely fanned.
ReplyDeleteGreat pics. Keep ‘em coming. Love, Hugh
ReplyDeleteHi Aaron, we are friends of Nancy Jordan and Tim Zier, they told us about your travels. Cliff and I are leaving for New Zealand on Jan. 25th for 5 weeks. I'd love to be added to your blog and know if our paths may cross during our visit. If it is OK please add robin.schmitt@comcast.net to your subscriber list. Thank you, will also let you know if we have a must see spot for you and Kate. Cheers, Robin and Cliff
ReplyDeleteWishing you a magnificent "walkabout" down under. Photos are lovely. Bro'D
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