The airlines switched the time of our flight to Christchurch a couple of time.  It was originally scheduled for 10:45, then 8:45, and finally 9:45.

We had to leave the apartment at 6:30 and walk to Central Station to catch the train to the airport.  Everything went smoothly except the plane was delayed.  So we didn’t get out of Sydney until about 10:30.

Anyway, the flight was great.   I had a bulkhead seat and slept almost the entire way to Christchurch.  We took a shuttle to the Quest Apartments which is very close to the Cathedral.  Our room is not exactly an apartment, but we do have a fridge and microwave.

It was about 5:00 pm before we were settled.  Jan and I decided to take a walk following the trolley tracks around town.  Christchurch was the scene of a 6.3 earthquake in 2011 and it destroyed many of the buildings.  There are so many still needing a lot of work.

Here is the Cathedral.

 

Some new buildings have been constructed or added on to remains of older ones.  This is the Te Puna o Waiwhetu Christchurch Art Gallery.

We hope to visit the museum tomorrow.

We both liked this small place which is a center for people with dyslexia.

I found this cairn very interesting.

These are the words on a plaque attached to the structure.  “A cairn by tradition is a mound of stones at the edge of a river by which travelers in the high country indicate a place of departure and a place to regain the shore.   This cairn is constructed of boulders from the Pakaia Selwyn, Waimakarin and Hurunui rivers and has been placed here by citizens concerned that democratically evolved protectors of these water ways have been broken. This cairn is a marker. It marks the river of unease that presently flows through our community, a river where turbulent waters threaten to divide us.”

This is just part of one of the art walls in town.  I hope to see more wall art tomorrow.

Here is another site that is still in total ruins.

So it seems that  Christchurch is a combination of many places still in need of a great deal of work and new buildings going up all around.

We walked through the mall near our hotel.  Then we decided to walk to the city centre to find a place to eat outside of the touristy area.  There was a little Indian restaurant called Indian Sumner where a man was playing music.  It was empty.  Because of all the construction going on the street in front of the restaurant, they do not get very many customers.  We shared a great lamb dinner and will probably go back again for a lunch.

We went to the grocery store to get a bit of food and then found our way back to our place.  We have 2 more days to explore this area.