An Apple In The Land of Kiwis : Christchurch

After Picton my next stop was Christchurch. I was very fortunate to stay with a friend's roommate's cousin, who ended up being amazing, and a fast friend.

Broken branches in the park after the storm

My first two days in Christchurch, a massive rainstorm rolled through town and flooded parts of the city, as well as knocked over some trees, and according to local news sources cut power to over 3500 homes. Apparently it was the worst flooding/rainstorm in 100 years!? Man I picked a great time to come visit...

Luckily my new friend didn't lose power, and she has awesome wifi (haha) so I spent the two days of rain booking my busses and lodging for the rest of my trip on the South Island. I was also invited by a former-JET friend to her J-Kaiwa class, and had a really good time meeting other people who had lived in Japan, and testing out my declining Japanese skills.

Botanic Garden

Finally on my 3rd day the sun came out and I was able to explore during my remaining days. It was really interesting to see how obvious the aftermath of the earthquake was all over town, even 3 years later. Many shops lay vacant, some with goods still visible in the windows, others with signs telling you where they have relocated. There were also a number of buildings that have been torn down, leaving empty lots and their shadow on neighboring buildings.

Re:START Mall

The Re:START Mall, where they have used shipping containers to create a funky high end shopping area & open plaza, was a great place to people watch, and a bright colorful distraction in the midst of all the remaining rubble.

A few blocks away I also visited Cathedral Square, which is a shadow of its former self but still worth the visit. The building is all fenced off and, as far as I could tell, left mostly as it was after the earthquake aside from some support structures built around the collapsing front. (a lot of brick buildings seemed to have supports to keep their brick walls from collapsing any further...)

Cathedral Square

Christchurch Cathedral

Vacant lot, with shadow of previous building...

One of the unexpected highlights of my time in Christchurch was Cerock dancing. My friend invited me to join her for her dance classes that she attends once a week, and I was a little nervous (since I have never really danced). I became A LOT nervous when we got there, but it ended up being really fun, and the instructors said I was a natural and had amazing posture for a total newbie. (I don't know if they were telling the truth or not, but I am going to choose to believe them! haha)