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Published: August 15th 2016
Making my way south from Picton I decided to start my South Island part of the roadtrip going down the eastern coast. No real reason for this reasoning, the drive just looked nice on the map and in reality I was not disappointed. Winding curves hugging the rugged New Zealand coast with its emerald green waters were my companions until I ended up at my first destination - The Kaikoura Peninsula. This area is billed as being rich in marine biodiversity and I was excited to hike around the area and see for myself what was on offer.
The first thing that stood out for me here (other than the massive fur seal populations lazing about) were the large snow capped mountains jutting up from the coast just up from the sea. I cannot think of when I have seen mountains with snow and the ocean all in one frame. New Zealand is great. I keep saying this, but it is true. This country is like Colorado with oceans. The weather unfortunately has been not the best on the South Island. Lots of rainstorms interspersed with a little sunshine here and there. I was turned around on my hikes up
and down the coast due to the weather, but I saw some nice enough scenery on my treks. After dinner the nice lady at the Irish Pub House even let me stay in their parking lot. I was sorted for the night and rested up for my journey into the mountains surrounding Christchurch.
Driving inland from the coast on a scenic highway I was shown the beauty nature can provide in the form of majestic scenery and blistering blue skies and sunshine.
Driving into Christchurch I also witnessed firsthand the power and devastation nature can impose on our modern societies. In September of 2010 and February of 2011 Christchurch was rocked by a pair of earthquakes that leveled the city and killed 185 people. The earthquake epicenter was basically right under the downtown city center and some 80% of the buildings were destroyed or deemed not safe to habitate. It was a strange and erie feeling walking the streets of this deserted city. Right downtown the only people around were demolition and construction workers, and tourists like me jaw dropped and wide eyed. I could not imagine if something like this happened in Denver. Take an eight square
block in downtown Denver and level half the skyscrapers and leave the remaining abandoned due to safety concerns. That is Christchurch today.
The retail shops in the city are to unsafe to go into. Most still have their merchandise inside and no one has entered these buildings for two years.
Really an eye opening experience going through this city. It will take a generation before this place is back to what it was. Very sad.
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