Christchurch

From Parnasus it was another small trip down south to Woodend where we stayed at the St Barnabus Church just north of Christchurch.

This was a handy spot to visit relations of Judy’s and catch up with their news, and to visit the nearby town of Rangiora where we were able to stock up on food, get our washing done and generally catch up on various domestic chores. The local parishioners made us very welcome. We were going to stay two nights but stayed four.

On one of these days Judy and I caught the bus into Christchurch and transferred on to the sight seeing bus that tours round central Christchurch. The bus driver gave a very good commentary as we proceeded and we were able to hop off the bus at various stops and get on the next bus as it came around. We took advantage of this and visited some of the many gardens Christchurch is famous for. The Christchurch earthquake of 2011 destroyed many buildings, caused 185 deaths, 2000 injuries, 164 serious. Although there are now many new buildings there are still many to be repaired.

We had lunch at one of the stalls in the cathedral square. This artwork commemorates Canterbury’s 150th anniversary. Note the crane in the background and the new buildings. Note also all the people. Christchurch is just buzzing with tourists. Must be good for the businesses.

The Christchurch Cathedral. Still waiting to be rebuilt. Cost to the taxpayer 150 million dollars. Personally I think it should have been bull dozed but then I’m not a Christchurch resident.

This amazing sculpture is Te Kiheru Wai o Tahi (The Canoe Bailer of Tahu). This canoe is the mythical canoe of Maui who fished up the fish (stingray?) North Island, New Zealand. The canoe is the South Island and Stewart Island the anchor stone.

That was a full days explore and the trip in and out was accomplished on our gold cards. Sunday we attended the morning service at St Barnabus and then moved down to the Weedon NZMCA Camp just south of Hornby Christchurch. The camp is near the flight path to Christchurch Airport. This Boeing C17 Globemaster of the USAF was seen flying into the USAF Base which supports its base in Antarctica.

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