Christchurch and Dunedin, NZ

***Storyline:* *Home to home westward***

This is our last post on New Zealand with our notes from Christchurch and Dunedin. It’s been over a month now since we left this beautiful country, crossed Australia (many posts to come) and are on our last day in Singapore.

And so:

April 8

We are in Christchurch, a city ravaged by earthquakes and recent terrorist attack, braced by heavy metal supports, humility and incredible love. Alex is in his 8th day of having cold and counting. Being only 50% (his words) we just had a slow day wandering around. But he did manage to find a camera repair shop for my camera that a few days ago somehow got a huge blob on its sensor. Blame it on strong winds. So, I have a camera again.

We walked through Hagley Park and the beautiful botanical gardens,

took photos of the long set of flowers and teddy bears by the walls of the gardens, continued through the rubble and stopped for a lunch at a lovely Indian restaurant,

where we shared lamb vindaloo with a glass of wine each. We also stopped in the central area where I had sangria; beer for Alex, with ceviche as a meze.

We are heading to Dunedin after the TranzAlpine train day, but will return to Christchurch at the end of our sojourn in this beautiful country, to board a plane for Brisbane.

April 12

Christchurch was our least favorite city in NZ.

As a matter of fact it still looked like a bit of a war zone. It actually felt like the city did not exist.

Our imagination filled the gaps. “Over a thousand houses were demolished in the centre, between four avenues”, I hear Tom (our bus driver) telling us, “and tens of thousands in the suburbs…”

Over 10000 people have moved away from the city since the most recent quake: many have found new homes in fast-growing Rolleston, 20km or so east. Walking by demolished and semi-demolished buildings and seeing the beautiful small cathedral open to the elements and held together by temporary scaffolding and strapping was a bit depressing.

Although there have been obvious and successful rebuilding efforts, the city has a long way to go to get back on its feet. And it will never be the same. Modern buildings are slowly replacing the old colonial ones, again our imagination filling the gaps, since many are under construction.

But then, shortly before we arrived, the city was hit with another disaster; this one man-made. Fifty-one people were killed and 49 injured in a shooting rampage, by a lone gunman at the city’s two central mosques.

The sidewalk by the botanical gardens was filled with flowers, plush toys and notes promoting peace and tolerance. These were placed at or after a memorial service that was broadcast live to the whole country. The sense distress and disbelief in the city was still palpable.

These disasters render a beautiful city a sad place. But it’s not all doom and gloom. We enjoyed walking through South Hagley Park and Christchurch Botanical Gardens,

strolling along Avon River in the town centre where rebuilt restaurants are thriving. And watching new buildings rise from the rubble of the earthquake. Perhaps another time, we’d appreciate the city more.

Dunedin

Dunedin wasn’t initially on our list. There are nice train trips with old steam trains for which I needed more time. Having to change the itinerary from the west coats to the east, Dunedin was our only option to fill the two-day gap between Christchurch and Queenstown.

It is a lovely town. We had one full day there, after arriving late afternoon on the first day.

We managed to walk through the Botanical Gardens wearing our ponchos, heavy rain following us,

then we walked up the claimed “steepest residential street in the world”.

I am glad the place we live in is not famous for anything. Don’t envy the people living on this small, steep street that had become a selfie celebrity.

Full of crowds, it has lost its charm as a small street far from the town centre. Busses stop at the bottom of the street, dropping off the selfie tourists who wouldn’t even walk from the city to here.

A lady told us a story of crowds rushing through someone’s house, pushing the owner away, to use the toilets. It is so sad that in the modern day of selfie culture, the younger generation, mainly Asians here, do not take the time enjoy the beauty of any place. We’ve observed at may places, towns, cities, museums, the same behaviours. A selfie and run for the next one. Looks like a competition of who would take the most of them. So even on this rainy day there were many tourists (yes, we know that we are included in this) tramping up and down Baldwin Street.

Anyway, the rain that has been following us did not allow us to hike the hill nearby, but we managed to walk to the beautiful train station and take some photos of it.

On the arrival afternoon/evening we enjoyed scallop bruschetta and a veggie dish – we find veggie dishes few and far between in non-Asian restaurants. With a glass of wine each, we watched the world pass by, knowing that this was the only dry moment to enjoy an outside, albeit heated, patio in this city.