Thursday, January 27th - Touring Christchurch

I was able to get a decent nights sleep and even though I woke up at 3:00 am found it not too difficult to fall back asleep until 5:30 a.m. After a long shower and a quick cup of coffee,  Margaret and I went in seach of a REAL cup at a local coffee place called the "Caffeine Laboratory." This is  where I got my first REAL "flat white." Check out the door handles on this place!

 

 Hilary and Christopher arrived last night and stayed with local friends Susan and Phillip. Margaret and I wandered a bit while waiting to hear from them with plans for the day. The forecast was for warm temperatures and sunny skies so we intended to get out and enjoy the sunshine!

We had a lovely stroll along a small river running through town and found ourselves in a park complete with a statue of the renowned Captain James Cook who was the first to hoist the British flag in New Zealand in the late 1700's. 

  

 

We met up with the group and were taken on a remarkable walking tour of the downtown. We visited the Christchurch Transitional Cathedral. It is a temporary cathedral  built out of cardboard tubes supported with steel beams. This church was constructed in 11 months after the 2011 earthquake collapsed buildings and left the old cathedral in rubble.

 

Phillip took us on a walking tour of downtown showing us entire blocks of buildings that have facades being held up by shipping containers and others that are either being repaired or under construction. 

 

The epicenter of this earthquake was in Christchurch and took over 180 lives and destroyed much of the downtown area. Shipping containers were also used to create a temporary and new downtown while the rebuild continues. 

 

We then decided to have a bit of fun and went to the "Buskers Festival " going on this week. Essentially it is a festival of street performers, what fun!

 

 

 

We then ended our day with Susan and Phillips friends Rick and Lynn who cooked a fantastic fish taco dinner for us. Yes, all the way from AZ to New Zealand for Mexican food. Fantastic!