There are two things of significance I neglected to include in the last post, dear reader. Before that, a spoiler alert, there are no pictures in this post - sorry. Like, rain and stuff, and we didn't go far from the hotel.
The first is the amazing scenery as you fly into Christchurch and the second was the friendliness of the border staff. The latter proving that you can be efficient and effective at your work without being an absolute prick - yes America I'm looking at you.
The mountains you fly over are amazing, like I've nothing I've ever seen before. Australia's old mountains are more a set of rolling hills by comparison. And Canada's magnificent mountains are covered in trees. Those as you fly into Christchurch are like the bones of some ancient animal, a densely packed rib cage, tall, and steeply sided with sharp summits. There is precious little vegetation beyond a particular height. I have no idea whether this is natural. There were, what looked like, scree slopes from the top of many ridges, but of fine silt or mud, not rock. Whatever, it was truly breathtaking. Then it all gives way to what I assume is the Canterbury plain.
That spectacular welcome was almost matched by the immigration officer. He couldn't have been friendlier. Business was slow so we had a chat about less friendly arrivals in other countries - including Australia. It doesn't cost much to be nice and it really sets up your time in another country.
As the forecasters predicted, the beautiful sunshine gave way to rain and today's title. A classic from 1983 by Dragon, have a listen. Undeterred we set out for breakfast. It drizzled. We walked up to Riverside Markets. It is a bit of a tourist mecca and well worth a visit. There were plenty of places open for breakfast but there was nowhere to sit. The restaurants upstairs had yet to commence service so we wandered back in the direction of the hotel to Majestic, a small café in one of the lanes. The coffee was excellent, so I had two. The breakfast fare was limited but sufficient for our first full day in Christchurch.
Back to the hotel to collect the car and drive to, wait for it, Westfields. Yes, the shopping giant exists here too. Sadly. We found our way to Macpac to purchase walking boots to replace those that supported me in the Tassie walk last week. Aside from the summer sale here in NZ, the exchange rate ensured my purchase was quite cost effective.
 |
| Oh, alright, one photo. New boots. |
Then it was time to visit Pandora. The store, not the person from that daggy teen fiction novel. We purchase a kiwi on a silver fern, you can't get much more NZ than that. Unless there was a pack of ugly, cauliflowered-eared forwards trying to ruck the kiwi. Sorry, I got carried away. Pandora charm safely in the back pack, we departed for the drizzle of the open air car park and the drive back to the hotel.
Once again the rain eased, lulling us into a false sense of security, like an All Blacks team conceding the first points. No, wait, that doesn't happen. Well, neither regularly nor often. Where was I dear reader? Oh, yes, the rain had eased so we thought we would visit the Quake City Exhibition. It was ... amazing, emotional, interesting, fascinating, terrifying ... I'm wearing something to bed tonight. Just to be prepared. Well, there's a first time for everything.
Seriously, the quake centre is a must do. There are comparisons I could make with other cities that have experienced disasters, but really, people will look at population size, nature of the disaster or whatever. There have been many earthquakes that have affected Christchurch and all of New Zealand. It's called the shaky isles for a reason. But, here we have the stories of people on a screen before us who saved lives, who lost their loved ones, who found their children, alive. We saw their anguish, their soul searching, their questioning of their lives, who they were, what they had done with their time on the planet and what the do in the future. It was confronting and it should be. It was also uplifting and funny. Kiwis share that same laconic wit that Aussies do. I don't know if that helped. It didn't stop me from crying and tearing up now just thinking about these people and their stories.
And today, of all days was the anniversary of that major quake, February 22, 2011. That was just a freaky coincidence. We almost didn't go in. It was raining, well drizzling and we'd walked over there expecting to go straight in. Not today, there was a queue of 20 people standing in the Christchurch weather. One person out, one person in. So we waited, and you know dear reader I queue for no man, nor woman neither. Today, I queued and it was worth it, for so many reasons.
Anyway, enough sentimentality. Sniff. I'm not crying, it's the air conditioning.
We spent so long in the Quake Centre we didn't need to return to the hotel prior to our dinner booking at Original Sin. Great name. How could we resist? It's nothing fancy. A small wine list and a mixture of Italianesque food options. No, dear reader, I did not take the pizza option. There was a rack of lamb dish that was offered for two, so I threw myself on the Ash Wednesday sacrificial fire to watch my good wife eat meat (travellers' dispensation claimed). Worth it. I can have pizza tomorrow.
The rain continues to drift in and we continue to alter our plans to accommodate the weather. It's like being Peter Dutton. Yeah. Nah. Nothing is like that, in my experience. The weather might force us to adjust what we are doing, but it doesn't make us pretend we are something we are not.
Until next time.
Hopefully with pictures. Of things other than my boots. Oh, whatever, I was excited about my new boots.
No comments:
Post a Comment