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Published: August 2nd 2015
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Construction
It looks like this all around the city centre. I'd been hearing my entire trip that the centre of Christchurch is still a disaster area because of the earthquake they experienced over 5 years ago. The skyline now consists of hundreds of cranes and the sound of demolition and reconstruction is always in the background. Light tremors still shake the city, and you can feel and hear them pretty often if you sit still. But there are a few reasons to visit:
Sights
While most of the traditional sights have been destroyed, they've given rise to some new places worth seeing. The cathedral still hasn't been torn down and visitors can looks right into the ruined building. Just a five minute walk away is a giant cardboard replica with 187 empty chairs next to it, to represent everyone who died in the quake.
Adaptation
At first thought, it's shocking that a developed country couldn't rebuild more quickly. After all, what does that say about how long it will take to rebuild Kathmandu? But after visiting, it's clear that it is taking so long because it was an advanced city. So many of the water and sewage lines were ruined, so even if a building is still standing, it
might need to be demolished because of problems underground. The soil here is very soft as well, creating even more fissures and underground destruction than it would in other parts of the world. There are also apparently endless battles with insurance companies and delayed payments, since so much needs to be rebuilt.
So the solution for many businesses has been to function out of containers- like the ones used in shipyards or somewhat like train cars. The Re: Start mall is fun to walk around; it's basically like an open market, and there are many food trucks on the scene as well.
Graffiti
Many of the facades of defunct buildings have been spray painted in brilliant designs, and images. These, along with the containers give the city a pretty resilient and hopeful vibe.
Akaroa
Akaroa is an old French fishing village on the Banks Peninsula, about an hour and a half from Christchurch. Since my buddy Dan and I didn't have a car, we had to take a shuttle there and make it a day trip. For $40pp we left at 8:30 AM and got back at 4. There were only 5 of us on the
bus and of course the driver drove very slowly and stopped a few times along the way.
Most people got there to dolphin/whale/penguin watch, but such things are expensive. After a quick lunch at what some say is the best fish and chips place in the country (Akaroa Fish and Chips... It was good but I've had better in both Australia and New Zealand), we went to the information centre to find out about hikes in the area.
We ended up doing the Skyline Walk, which goes straight from the information centre up into the hills, climbing steeply, without switchbacks, for nearly an hour. We were worried about getting back on time (they said 4-7 hours and we only had 3.5), so we cut it off a bit with the Paripai shortcut. We figured the views couldn't get that much better anyway- they were pretty spectacular.
Then the trail went over the ridge and to the far side of the peninsula, which is completely untouched. The clouds and winds came in, but that was just as well, since we wanted to get back to town quickly. That portion of the trail is more gradual but goes along
a graded dirt road and isn't very interesting. We ended up completing the whole walk in 2 1/2 hours.
The Skyline Circuit is a fine and difficult hike that makes for s perfect day trip away from Christchurch.
There are more photos below.
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