Up early this morning to catch the early tender off the ship
and into Akaroa with a bus to Christchurch.
Bad start – at 4am the winds were 50 knots and the seas were
choppy. We managed to sleep through most
of it but when we got up at 7 it was 13 degrees. Breakfast and to the assembly point for our
tour. Because of the rough seas the
tenders were going at half capacity and consequently we didn’t get off the ship
till 10.30 and it took half an hour to get into the Akaroa, then on the bus to
Christchurch. Arrived there 2 hours late
and was told to be back at the bus meeting point at 5pm….it took a two hour bus
drive to get there and the last tender was leaving at 6pm…we knew we’d miss
the ship??!!
Of course we didn’t but that’s a whole other story which
will be another complete blog entry (named Incompetent Tour Guides??!!!)
Anyway I digress. The
trip over the mountains and into Christchurch was pretty good, winding road and
spectacular scenery. Steep mountains
covered in sheep and forest. (I’d show
you photos if NZ had some sort of internet connection!!) The surprise of the trip was the devastation
of Christchurch from the 2011 earthquake.
Huge amount of the inner city was either flattened or damaged so badly
it had to be demolished. There are still
many, many vacant building sites in the centre of town. There are also a huge amount of cranes
rebuilding office blocks and apartment buildings in the city. The buildings still standing are boarded up,
supported by huge steel girders or fenced off until decisions can be made of
their future. It looks like a prosperous
city because of the building happening but it obviously is still suffering
deeply from the damage caused 5 years ago.
Anyway – no photos because of the poor internet.
Hope that improves – wait for the tour guide
story – it will have you in tears (as it did us!!)
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| Building being supported |
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| Front of the catholic Cathedral, lots of damage |
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| Another business building fenced off |
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| Another look at the Cathedral |
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| Temporary town centre made from shipping containers |
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| Large tree at the Botanic Gardens |
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| Last tender, with our ship in the background waiting to go. |
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| Hills and farms on the way to Christchurch |
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| Coming back in to Akaroa |
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| The peir where we caught the tender, with our ship in the background |
Wow can't wait - sounds like there might actually be an interesting story coming! It is a shame about losing the time in Christchurch - they just had another earthquake not long ago, wonder why anyone would want to still be there. Did you get to see much of Akoroa? We loved it there, great cemetery, Mum would have loved it. Were the sheep on the mountain side looking happy? Sounds like an interesting trip so far. Did you hear that Aimee and Adam are now engaged? Jude must finally feel that there is a good chance of being a grandparent one of these days. Keep up the good work Vernon, I have to say the blogs are quite funny! Love Trish & Gary xxx
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