Christchurch - the earthquake-ravaged city

Next stop on our trip was Christchurch on the east coast. We first drove on beautiful gravel roads past the mountain lakes Lake Coleridge and Lake Lyndon, and then continued on fast country roads to Waikuku Beach. We had contacted Carsten from the KTM Forum, who emigrated to New Zealand with his family in 2007 and has been renting KTMs for a year. Although we didn't want to rent anything, we were invited for a coffee visit months ago. And if anyone wants to rent a KTM, here's the link: http://www.adventurebikehire.nz/

Waikuku Beach is located a bit north of Christchurch right by the sea. On a walk, we could convince ourselves of the beautiful area, and it's only half an hour by car from Christchurch City. It's really a great place.

For the next few days, we had a nice room in a backpacker in the city center. The backpacker consisted of several old wooden houses and a nice garden, the atmosphere was really nice, but also very quiet. Luckily not a party accommodation. And they were very excited about our motorcycles, we were allowed to park them in the garden so they wouldn't be on the street, and we even took a farewell photo when we left.

Christchurch itself is fascinating and frustrating at the same time. The earthquakes of 2010 and especially the one in February 2011 destroyed large parts of the city center. The demolition and planning for new buildings apparently took so long that many plots are still vacant or currently under construction, so construction fences and cranes dominate the cityscape. There are also several empty buildings waiting for renovation or demolition, definitely not a pleasant sight. But some new buildings have been completed, it seems like there's always something new opening. The architecture of these buildings gives a glimpse of how beautiful the city will be. It would certainly be interesting to come back in a few years to see how it has turned out.

The sight of the destroyed old Anglican Cathedral is particularly striking, its facade is open and held up by a steel structure. There is apparently a heated debate about the final demolition, with the Anglican Church considering the building irreparable, while the heritage protection wants to prevent its demolition. As a replacement, they have built the Cardboard Cathedral within just 2 years, a temporary building made of cardboard tubes. Although there were initially many critical voices that such a building was unworthy of a church, the construction is now recognized and a great attraction of the city. We also found the building very successful, it's amazing that you can build something like that out of cardboard.

Another temporary structure that has become an attraction is the Re.Start shopping center. It's nothing more than a creatively designed collection of shipping containers, so that retail could quickly open stores again. We were surprised that the atmosphere here was not frustrating at all, on the contrary, the people were in a good mood, lingered between the snack stands, and various artists and street musicians showcased their skills. We had a similar experience in the evening at a beer garden, whose infrastructure also consisted of containers. The DJ in his container decorated with old car parts created a great atmosphere, the design of the place reminded us of some provisional beach bars in Berlin.

We were confronted with the seriousness of the earthquakes twice more. On the one hand, we visited the exhibition "Quake City", which documents the 2011 earthquake with many pictures, reports, and videos. It's really unimaginable what happened there. There were 185 deaths in the earthquake, which is graphically illustrated by an open space where an artist set up a white painted chair for each victim.

But finally, we also wanted to take something else from Christchurch than just earthquakes and their consequences. We visited the Botanic Gardens, for which Christchurch is famous and also called the Garden City. Especially the Rose Garden was worth seeing, and the buildings in the surrounding area were not destroyed. Although only a few minutes' walk from the city center, the earthquakes hardly left a trace here. So we leave Christchurch with beautiful memories.