We left Queenstown and moved on to our final stop in New Zealand - Christchurch. The bus ride took about 8 hours including breaks and lunch. On the way there we passed by a very beautiful lake called lake Pukaki. Bright blue water from the glacier dust and snow mountain range in the background. It was breathtaking and it was hard to put my camera down.
Christchurch is the second biggest city in new Zealand and I read something about art and museums in the city. After we got here we found out that the city centre was damaged severely by earthquakes in 2010/11. 80% of the buildings were destroyed. That includes some iconic buildings like a cathedral built over 100 years ago.
Walking down the street I had a very sour feeling. Graffiti on the sides of the remaining buildings to beautify the badly damaged city. Broken and abandoned buildings and empty parking area everywhere. The art museum has a big neon sign on top "everything is going to be alright". And there is a shopping mall built from cargo containers called "restart mall".
As devastated as it sounds, it is, however, a very good education material for all of us to understand the impact of earthquake. Ellie learned about what earthquake is for the first time. We went to a museum called quake city. There were quite a bit of information documents the events and also a Lego station to help redesign the new Christchurch with Lego pieces. We had a good time there.
After the visit to the museum we walked to grocery store to get enough food for the next few days. This time we are staying 6 nights so finally we can make something more interesting. First night: venison tomato sauce pasta. Second night: mashed potatoes chicken and corn and cabage. Last night: kumara fries, pasta again and lots of veggies. Way more than we can finish. Yum!
The house we stayed was an airbnb townhouse. Very homey and comfy, much better than all the motels. And daddy learned how operates an expresso machine. It requires us to clean up the house before we go. I have been trying to keep it clean so it wasn't so bad.
The next couple days we went to Canterbury museum and botanical garden. Again the museum is much bigger than I thought (and it's free!), but since we split it in 2 days so it was fine. The botanical garden park has a very big kid pool but it is still too cold to swim.
We also visited the shopping mall (because daddy wanted to see dick smith, an electronic store). We played video games, bought a new jacket for myself, pants and shoes for ellie. And we learned how to take metro bus!
The weekend was also the reopening day of the art museum. It is quite boring for ellie so we didn't stay for long. I am happy to see the city slowly coming back to life.
The way back home was a bit painful. 4 flights, 30+ hours traveling from Christchurch, NZ to billings, Montana. Goodbye Christchurch. Goodbye new Zealand. Ellie said, "stay safe, no more earthquakes!"
Dad's favorite: mountain and landscape
Mom's favorite: sheep and flat white
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