Just a quick post today showing some pictures of the first day in Christchurch. Internet access is spotty, and my sister has got a very tight schedules full of activities for the first couple of days, so there's no time to put any info on.
The day in Christchurch started at approximately 01:00 in the middle of the night, after passing immigration at the airport. A cab ride brought me to my cabin in North South holiday park (2km away), which was just the cheap bed that I needed. The next day I left my large backpack there and got a cab to city center: first stop the botanical gardens. Coffee with a great view, nice and sunny chill-out area, and full summer with all the flowers in bloom.
Next up was 'city center', or actually what was left of it. A mall has been rebuild with containers, live music present, and nice food, so a nice atmosphere altogether.
The Cathedral still has to be renovated (3 years past the earthquake). Actually the churches are the buildings that were damaged most, so you see lots of them still in disrepair.
A final picture that sums up Christchurch for me: nice, green chill-out areas, buildings in scaffolding, and lots of cranes trying to rebuild the city.
Near the end of the afternoon, an important item on the agenda turned up: arrival of the rest of the family! First bummer: their flight was delayed with an hour.. so back to the trusted 'waiting at the airport' behaviour for me.
Luckily, they did turn up in the end:
And we got our (BIG!) rental car:
Ofcourse my parents have never heard of 'don't be gentle, it's a rental' so the coming days will be spent in convincing them of the worth of such a motto.
An hour or what of driving and we arrived at our first stay: a cottage on Hackney Road, West Melton, just outside of CHC.
The day in Christchurch started at approximately 01:00 in the middle of the night, after passing immigration at the airport. A cab ride brought me to my cabin in North South holiday park (2km away), which was just the cheap bed that I needed. The next day I left my large backpack there and got a cab to city center: first stop the botanical gardens. Coffee with a great view, nice and sunny chill-out area, and full summer with all the flowers in bloom.
A final picture that sums up Christchurch for me: nice, green chill-out areas, buildings in scaffolding, and lots of cranes trying to rebuild the city.
Near the end of the afternoon, an important item on the agenda turned up: arrival of the rest of the family! First bummer: their flight was delayed with an hour.. so back to the trusted 'waiting at the airport' behaviour for me.
Luckily, they did turn up in the end:
And we got our (BIG!) rental car:
Ofcourse my parents have never heard of 'don't be gentle, it's a rental' so the coming days will be spent in convincing them of the worth of such a motto.
An hour or what of driving and we arrived at our first stay: a cottage on Hackney Road, West Melton, just outside of CHC.
Because we are now all together I will post new articles on my parents blog. Look forward to seeing the pictures of at least two mountain hikes there in the coming days.
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