Christchurch In The Rain

Our next stop was Akaroa, a small town on one of the harbors east of Christchurch.  Since the 2011 earthquake, Christchurch has had no place to dock and land cruise ships, so most of them anchor at Akaroa. A friend happened to be on a NZ/AUS cruise, and had the day free, so we joined her and toured Christchurch together.

Here is the harbor at Akaroa, the lighthouse was moved here from the mouth when it was retired in the 50s. We waited until the smoking and massive cruise ships left before we took this photo.





After negotiating  the horde of tour buses and vans, we picked up our friend.  The cloud cover was low and threatening to rain at any moment.  So we decided to drive the long scenic route to Christchurch.  The photos weren’t any good, as we saw nothing but cloud for almost 2 hours. 

With a break in the rain we did a bit of walking about downtown Christchurch.

This is the interim Cathedral.  Built when the original Christchurch Cathedral was badly damaged in the quake, it consists of cardboard, concrete, and lots of plywood and was erected in 11 months.  Built on a 3-meter-thick concrete slab, it is probably the safest building in the city.








To counter the destruction of the quake, public art installations were thrown up all over the city.









Here is the original church.  The damage is extreme, some effort was made to support it, but has since succumbed to the aftershocks.


With the rain starting to come down, and a evening sailing, we headed back on the express route to Akaroa.

We took an evening stroll after the rain had finally stopped through the local reserve to the graveyards.  It was very interesting to see separate areas for non-conformists (non-Anglicans) and Catholics as this was a British colony, with a state religion.