Christchurch, New Zealand

The morning after Kaitlyn and I arrived in Christchurch, we decided that we would spend the day exploring the city. While asking the receptionist for suggestions on where to get breakfast, we also inquired about different places to visit. She recommended a shopping district, the botanical gardens, and a few museums. We were told to avoid the CBD (Central Business District), otherwise known as downtown. Kaitlyn and I were eager to visit the botanical gardens once again. As we began to walk, it became clear to us why we had to take a 45 minute detour to get to our destination.

The entire downtown area of Christchurch was fenced off and closed. The destruction caused by the recent earthquakes was immense. As we walked around the outside of the CBD, we got a peak into the damage caused to the varying infrastructure. Buildings were half toppled, rubble piles could be seen everywhere, sidewalks were missing paving stones and patched with aspalt, and there was construction on many roads. I can only imagine what the center of the city looked like if the areas that were open were still in such disarray.

Kaitlyn and I walked through the make-shift shopping district – where they were using shipping containers as temporary store outlets. It was a really cool and innovative way to set up a shopping area to use while the CBD area is closed and being repaired. In a way, I hope that they keep this area open once the original shops are opened again downtown as the area is really open and engaging, and the bright colours and set-up of the shipping containers create some great architecture and definition to the space.

Next, we made our way over to the botanical gardens. I once again really enjoyed walking through the park and taking ideas from it. I definitely think I’ll have a whole new outlook on how to approach solutions to designs (especially in urban areas) from what I have seen so far in Australia and New Zealand. Kaitlyn and I really enjoyed several big trees that we found throughout the botanical gardens – they had tall and had large canopies with hollow centers. We were able to walk right under and through them. One was even used as a very well-used playground for kids.

For our last day in New Zealand, Kaitlyn and I decided to leave Christchurch for the day and take the Tranz-Alpine train to a place called Arthur’s pass. This train ride was supposed to be the most stunning of the three routes that run across New Zealand (we went on two of these). Although we didn’t go all the way to Greymouth on the east edge of the island, we were still able to see beautiful mountains, large canyons, waterfalls, and more. The journey took us about two and a half hours through this breathtaking scenery to a tiny little town in the middle of the Southern Alps.

Our accomplishment of the day: we climbed a mountain! With approximately four and a half hours to spare until the train came back to pick us up, Kaitlyn and I completed two hiking trails. The first one (which I’m glad we did first because there were LOTS of steps!) was called ‘Devil’s Punchbowl’ and was the most popular trail in Arthur’s Pass. After some great views of the surrounding mountains, the climax of the trail took us up to a rather spectacular waterfall. After taking a bunch of pictures, we sat on some rocks near the falls and ate lunch.

The second trail called ‘Bridal Veil’ was a bit easier for the most part. Definitely longer, we saw more small waterfalls, streams, beautiful tree canopies, snow on the top of one of the surrounding mountains, and an old historical house at the end of the trail. Needless to say, Kaitlyn and I definitely got our exercise! Forget indoor workout machines and gyms, go climb a mountain in the sun all day! We jumped on the train when it arrived in at the station and headed back to Christchurch. After grabbing some pizza from dominos (since all those calories we burned off during the day allowed us to eat whatever we wanted…), Kaitlyn and I went to sleep early so we’d be able to wake up at 3am the next morning to catch our early flight out of Christchurch.

Overall, Christchurch was not my favourite city; however my opinion may be a bit biased as I wasn’t able to get a real feeling of the city due to the damage from the earthquakes. It is called the Garden City, and although it has lots of great parks, much of the area that we walked through along the streets was grey and drab and lacking greenery. We were informed on the train that Christchurch used to be the second largest city in New Zealand, however due to all the migration because of the earthquakes; it is now the third largest city. I hope that over time, Christchurch will return to its former self, and at which time I can return for a true sense of what I’m sure is a great city.