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Christchurch
Aug. 17th, 2018 11:49 pmWe felt very lucky that State Highway 1 was open for us to drive south along the coast. Between various earthquakes it's been closed for years, opened at least part of the time in December, but was going to be closed again the day after we needed to drive it. And it would be have been sad to miss the stunning scenery of mountains meeting the sea.
We stopped in Kaikoura, whose name means "eat crayfish" in Maori. I had the crayfish bisque at the Pier Hotel, while Jason ate the very tasty takahiri fish & chips and Alice opted for a steak sandwich. We got to eat outside, looking over the bay to the Misty Mountains. When we stopped away from our table a cloud of seagulls descended and in seconds the leftover fries were all gone!
After lunch we visited the local museum. They have a special exhibit about the 2016 earthquake that devastated and isolated the town, as well as a more general exhibit about the environment and history of the area. Alice was fascinated by the video of people sharing their personal experiences.
Continuing on we reached Entwhistle Cottage, our home in Christchurch, and got started on laundry. A couple of websites recommended King of Snake, an Asian fusion restaurant, as one of the best in town, so we went there. Alice really loved it, but I found everything just a little too sweet for my taste.
The next day we started out to walk into the city center, but almost immediately found the best playground ever. It had "flying fox" ziplines and a huge slide down a hill and many other excellent elements. Prying Alice away we continued over to the "Cardboard Cathedral," a transitional space while they determine the fate of the original cathedral, which was badly damaged in the 2011 earthquake that basically destroyed the center of town.
The damage is still very evident, with many empty lots, some derelict buildings, and lots of construction. In one of the lots along our way, an artist has created an installation of chairs painted white, one for each of the 185 people killed in the earthquake.
After visiting Cathedral Square and seeing the sadly broken church and some more cheerful public art, we had a lovely lunch at the bar of the OGB (Old Government Building) which is now a hotel. Then we made our way to Quake City, a special exhibit about the earthquake and the recovery process. They had an hour long film of people sharing their personal experiences and Alice was once again riveted by those.
From there we went over to the Christchurch Art Gallery. They had several interesting exhibits, but the big discovery for me was Marie Shannon, whose videos of words were fascinating and thought provoking. One piece was about asking her son what objects he remembered from each room in their house and led to a very interesting conversation with Alice. There was another piece about cleaning her studio, trying to decide which objects were art, in the face of a dismissive review by a critic. A third was the faxes her husband sent while on a trip to Europe, set to mournful cello music--how different the impression would have been with another soundtrack.
Our brains full, we wandered through the Botanical Gardens and then went back to the cottage for a break before dinner. Jason had discovered that the local tourist tram does a dinner tour and that seemed like a fine idea. The food was quite good and it was kind of funny to dine while trundling through the streets of town. There wasn't a lot of "tour" to it and the track is limited to areas we'd already explored on foot and short enough that we did several loops. But it was fun and different and Alice got a kick out of window shopping so conveniently.
My overall impression of Christchurch is of a place in transition. The earthquake created a huge amount of disruption, change, and modernization, and also an awareness of community. The city council has made empty spaces available for various forms of art and community building (there was a bicycle-generated cinema operating in a vacant lot for a while). The city center has only been open again in the past 18 months and there is still a feeling of emptiness and opportunity. I told Alice she'll have to come back in twenty it thirty years and see how it's all changed and what the city will become.
Laundry done, we packed up, made one more trip to the Margaret Mahy playground, and got on the road to Dunedin.
We stopped in Kaikoura, whose name means "eat crayfish" in Maori. I had the crayfish bisque at the Pier Hotel, while Jason ate the very tasty takahiri fish & chips and Alice opted for a steak sandwich. We got to eat outside, looking over the bay to the Misty Mountains. When we stopped away from our table a cloud of seagulls descended and in seconds the leftover fries were all gone!
After lunch we visited the local museum. They have a special exhibit about the 2016 earthquake that devastated and isolated the town, as well as a more general exhibit about the environment and history of the area. Alice was fascinated by the video of people sharing their personal experiences.
Continuing on we reached Entwhistle Cottage, our home in Christchurch, and got started on laundry. A couple of websites recommended King of Snake, an Asian fusion restaurant, as one of the best in town, so we went there. Alice really loved it, but I found everything just a little too sweet for my taste.
The next day we started out to walk into the city center, but almost immediately found the best playground ever. It had "flying fox" ziplines and a huge slide down a hill and many other excellent elements. Prying Alice away we continued over to the "Cardboard Cathedral," a transitional space while they determine the fate of the original cathedral, which was badly damaged in the 2011 earthquake that basically destroyed the center of town.
The damage is still very evident, with many empty lots, some derelict buildings, and lots of construction. In one of the lots along our way, an artist has created an installation of chairs painted white, one for each of the 185 people killed in the earthquake.
After visiting Cathedral Square and seeing the sadly broken church and some more cheerful public art, we had a lovely lunch at the bar of the OGB (Old Government Building) which is now a hotel. Then we made our way to Quake City, a special exhibit about the earthquake and the recovery process. They had an hour long film of people sharing their personal experiences and Alice was once again riveted by those.
From there we went over to the Christchurch Art Gallery. They had several interesting exhibits, but the big discovery for me was Marie Shannon, whose videos of words were fascinating and thought provoking. One piece was about asking her son what objects he remembered from each room in their house and led to a very interesting conversation with Alice. There was another piece about cleaning her studio, trying to decide which objects were art, in the face of a dismissive review by a critic. A third was the faxes her husband sent while on a trip to Europe, set to mournful cello music--how different the impression would have been with another soundtrack.
Our brains full, we wandered through the Botanical Gardens and then went back to the cottage for a break before dinner. Jason had discovered that the local tourist tram does a dinner tour and that seemed like a fine idea. The food was quite good and it was kind of funny to dine while trundling through the streets of town. There wasn't a lot of "tour" to it and the track is limited to areas we'd already explored on foot and short enough that we did several loops. But it was fun and different and Alice got a kick out of window shopping so conveniently.
My overall impression of Christchurch is of a place in transition. The earthquake created a huge amount of disruption, change, and modernization, and also an awareness of community. The city council has made empty spaces available for various forms of art and community building (there was a bicycle-generated cinema operating in a vacant lot for a while). The city center has only been open again in the past 18 months and there is still a feeling of emptiness and opportunity. I told Alice she'll have to come back in twenty it thirty years and see how it's all changed and what the city will become.
Laundry done, we packed up, made one more trip to the Margaret Mahy playground, and got on the road to Dunedin.
