Christchurch

On a rainy day after Christmas I left the village of Franz Joseph to take a bus to Christchurch.
Thanks to a shop from a chinese market in Sydney, I even had an umbrella. It became very handy and I was considering to take a rental fee for its use as other people were asking for it...

Leaving Franz Joseph in the middle of the pouring rain. But as you can see, I am prepared !!!

Kea, waiting at the terrace of a restaurant on top of the Arthurs' Pass... nothing else to take pictures of as it is still raining...

... and don't feed the Kea !!!

After heavy rains, I arrived in Christchurch and learned that one of the bridges that I had crossed, had been swept away by too much water. I was lucky to get over it, otherwise I would have had to wait on the other side....
... arrived in Christchurch, I learned that it had again an earthquake one day before my arrival. The damage was not yet known, but nobody was hurt. I went to some couchsurfers, Peter ans Ali. I stayed with them for 2 nights. The first evening, Peter took me up on the hills around Christchurch to have a great view at the surroundings:

I have to look up the name of this bay,...

This is the same bay...

Christchurch, seen from above and far away !

Evening sun above Christchurch

The next day, it was raining. Peter and Ali took me to a museum with an exhibition of the artist Ron Mueck. He had some interesting sculptures, very detailed. Have a look yourself:

The wild man !

... and with some visitors to give you the notion of size...

 

"In Bed"

.... as if those two were communicating...

Not all the public buildings were open. Some were still taped off, as they hadn't been verified by the experts yet about damage from the earthquake.

I had a great time with Ali and Peter in Christchurch even though I didn't get to feel any of the promised after-shocks from the earthquake. Peter, being a science teacher, explained a lot to me about the earthquakes and how the city and the country deal with it. Since the risk is known for long, there are funds that exist to pay the damage that had been done by the September earthquake (roads, replacing broken sewer pipes...). From what he told me and the few I could see, they have been very efficient about cleaning up and getting normal life back.
Still, in the city center there are gaps in the rows of houses, where damaged buildings have been taken away for new constructions. As this concerned also a lot of shops, the shopping habits of the people have changed: The density of shops is lower, so it is less attractive....