Tour of Christchurch

...And off to Christchurch. The city, which is one of New Zealand's major cities with a population of 366,000, was supposed to be a kind of stopover for our big trip south. Donna (you remember, the baker in the deli and part-time roommate), who has a house in Christchurch, had offered us to stay with her for a few days. Although it's only a 1 ½ hour drive from Akaroa to Christchurch, the hilly and winding road put Richi's rusty driving skills (no wonder, since he hasn't driven for months and it's also left-hand traffic!) to the test - which he passed with flying colors!

On our first day in Christchurch, due to the bad weather, we took refuge in the free art gallery. We also visited various second-hand shops and shopping centers to complete our camping equipment. If you have ever been driving in a reasonably large city, you know how chaotic the traffic can be. Especially if it's a city where you don't know your way around at all. Again and again there were precarious situations where Richard was able to swerve the steering wheel at the last second and switch lanes from right to left. But luckily everything went well.

The weather was at least better the next day. We decided to explore Christchurch on foot and visit all the famous landmarks. Full of anticipation and entrepreneurial spirit, we got into the car until - BANG - we rammed the fence in the driveway at full speed. Richard's maneuver in the admittedly very narrow driveway had apparently gone wrong. Fortunately, the neighbor quickly came to help us park the car. We inspected the damage and after the initial shock, we agreed that it could have been much worse, after all, our car only suffered a scratch and a dent without any major damage. We didn't want to let that spoil our day. However, the grinding noise that we noticed every time we drove faster caused us greater concern. We tried to forget about the car worries for now and visit a workshop later. At the ISite, the New Zealand version of a tourist information center, we got a map of Christchurch and asked a woman who worked there to mark some interesting places for us.

Many places in the otherwise colorful and street art-dominated city still remind us of the earthquake that destroyed the city center in 2011 and killed 185 people. Not only the many reconstruction works, but also numerous remnants and temporary solutions from the period shortly after the earthquake, as well as many memorials, show that the damage has not been repaired to this day and that the earthquake is still a major topic. For example, the collapsed 'Christchurch Cathedral' still forms the center of 'Cathedral Square'. Of course, the area around the cathedral is now cordoned off and access is strictly prohibited. Since the cathedral was used for worship services until it was destroyed by the earthquake, a temporary solution had to be found quickly. And so there were countless suggestions. Finally, they decided to build the 'Cardboard Cathedral', a church that is almost entirely made of cardboard and now bears the official name 'Christchurch Transitional Cathedral'. That sounded so crazy that we definitely had to see it with our own eyes - and we were very impressed.

The 'Re:Start Mall' is a shopping complex made up of colorful shipping containers. Once a temporary solution for a collapsed shopping center, the extraordinary mall is now a popular destination for tourists and locals due to its uniqueness. In one of the containers, there was even a built-in pizza oven, and the pizza was prepared fresh in front of the guests (of course, we also tried the pizza - very delicious).

The 'Place of Empty Chairs' was very moving. Each of the 185 white-painted chairs represented one of the earthquake victims. Just as diverse as the victims themselves, there were also different types of chairs. There were rocking chairs, office chairs, wheelchairs, a baby seat, etc. A sign invited visitors to sit on each chair to which they felt particularly drawn and thus express their condolences. In addition, flowers could be placed in small water tubes attached to the sides of the chairs.

We rounded off our tour of Christchurch with a visit to the botanical gardens.

The next day, the day before our departure, we visited the workshop first. We described our problems to the mechanic and he assured us in his casual way that there is no risk of rust for the scratch and that the grinding noise is caused by a loose plastic part, which we had already correctly suspected. That would be a minor issue that could be fixed in 10 minutes. You can imagine how relieved we were. We spent the rest of the day running last errands, preparing the car for the journey, and making full use of the Wi-Fi (in anticipation of the upcoming Wi-Fi-free stretch).

And then it was here, the day of departure or the day that would mark a new chapter in our journey. Namely, the chapter where we would drive from campsite to campsite with our car and explore the South Island.

But first we went to the 'Antarctic Centre', self-proclaimed the "best Antarctic attraction worldwide". Thanks to a deal on the New Zealand booking site 'bookmee', we got half-price admission.

The focus of the interactive museum was mainly on life and research in Antarctica, and efforts were made to make the Antarctic world as tangible as possible for visitors, for example through the simulation of an Antarctic summer storm. A very successful conclusion to our tour of Christchurch.

Richi&Maggi, Saturday 15.04.2017, a café in Oamaru 10:20 a.m.