We are back at the beach! - East Coast

On Tuesday, we drove for over 4 hours from Twizel to Christchurch and then to Amberley. After making a stop in Geraldine, a small and cute town on the way, we arrived in Christchurch and went shopping. However, it took us some time to find a parking spot, as it was all full of cars and people! Quite unusual after being in sparsely populated areas for so long. In the evening, we arrived at the campground in Amberley, which was just a few meters away from the beach. Unfortunately, the weather was not as good anymore and we couldn't see a beautiful sunset.

The next morning, we drove an hour and a half up to Hamner Springs, further inland. Hamner Springs is a small tourist town known for its hot springs that were discovered there. From the hot springs, a thermal park with several pools of different temperatures (all around 36-38 degrees) was built, where Jana and I went in the evening. For the first time, we stayed overnight in the car on the side of the road in a small town.

After more or less sleep, we continued down towards Christchurch the next day. We spent the morning at a beach on the way and the rest of the day at a campground near Christchurch.

Yesterday, Thursday, we visited Christchurch. Christchurch is the largest city on the South Island with about half a million inhabitants. Due to two strong earthquakes in 2011 and 2012, many buildings in the city center partially collapsed, which can still be seen today. After the earthquake, containers were set up in a part of the city center, with some shops moving in, forming the Container Mall.

In Christchurch, just like in Wellington, there is a free museum that we visited. It is not as impressive as the one in Wellington, but it is bigger than I expected and it has some nice exhibitions. The exhibition that stuck in my mind the most shows 50 photographs from the year 2015, all from different countries and with very different subjects. Next to each photo is a text about the background of the image. The exhibition shows through the photos and the background stories how diverse life is and how extremely cultures, lifestyles, but also animal worlds and customs differ from country to country. Another exhibition that I found somewhat extraordinary showed portraits of different men who have all struggled with sexual abuse in their lives. When it comes to girls and women, abuse has been a topic for a long time, but I think it's good that they also remind people that there are many men who have been sexually abused and who struggle with the psychological consequences for their whole lives.

If it weren't for the half-collapsed buildings and all the construction sites, Christchurch could really be a beautiful city. There is a lovely botanical garden, a small river through the city center, beautiful parks, and also some beautiful buildings. But above all, we liked the harbor, as it has a wide sandy beach and a cute promenade.

Today, we will first go shopping for the barbecue with the other Germans tomorrow on Christmas Eve, and then we will have enough time in the next few days to explore more of Christchurch.