Dec. 24-25/15: Christchurch (Christmas down under)

The 24th was a transit day: 6 ½ hours on the Intercity bus from Dunedin to Christchurch. Not a particularly  inspiring ride, although I did get to see a fair number of grazing sheep, and a few coastal towns. My airbnb hosts in Christchurch  are delightful, a recently retired couple who immediately invited me to join them for Christmas lunch with their family. I have a bedroom, bathroom and sitting room in a private section of their home. All good.

Christmas morning I was able to go for my first jog since arriving here, in the botanic gardens. Can’t beat that. Lunch was excellent, with six of us in total, including a parent and two grown children.

Seemed to me that the logical thing to do next was walk to the town core (about 30 minutes), to see what Christmas in Christchurch looks like, and also to see how much rebuilding has  gone on since my last visit, in March. It’s clearly a slow process, but some things had changed. More cranes, and more construction. Apparently the insurance issues have only recently been resolved. Here are a few images of Christchurch on Christmas day, 2015. Never to look this way again. I hope someone is recording these changes, as the city is being redeveloped.

Decorations in the Restart mall 

(made of shipping containers),

with construction in the background

More construction, and some of 

the temporary artwork

The famous Cathedral, unchanged

as far as I recall