9th January
Morning spent packing up my rucksack and cleaning the car. It was a beautiful sunny day.
Before leaving the campsite I was looking at the information board. There was a settlement established there in 1866 and it was a popular picnic spot in the 1920's
Had to say goodbye to the camper-car .......back to back-packing
but at least the Hostel was nice enough & I have a lower bunk
On the way, I noticed some familiar place names
Christchurch itself is an interesting place. The couple I met at the campsite near Punakaki, who live here, told me it suffered badly from earthquakes in 2010, 2011 - the 2011 being 6.3 magnitude and possibly an aftershock of the 7.1 magnitude quake on 4th September 2010 in Canterbury. There was another of 5.7 magnitude in 2016 - the Valentines day Earthquake - but this was centred in the sea off New Brighton at a depth of 9 miles.
'Five years on, huge tracts of Christchurch’s suburban land have been deemed unliveable, vast networks of underground infrastructure is still being replaced and the central city is still rebuilding.'
A damaged road from the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that hit the South Island’s east coast in 2016. Photograph
....I was a little confused as to whether they meant this was damage from the earthquake in 2016 or the photo was taken in 2016 of earlier damage...
A lot of the city is still having to be re-built today. You could see this from walking around the place, including the Museum & Cathedral
On a lighter note, it was funny to see the undertones of Oxford coming through the buildings and parks. Punting on the Avon etc....... seem familiar at all? ..........
This was a busy area for bars, cafes and restaurants
Very pretty.
There was a concert/festival going on in the park, the main event being Maoli - island vibe - a fusion of reggae, country & R&B. Also - I was told - Stan Walker. I'd never heard of him but he won Australian Idol.
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