Christchurch, the largest city on the South Island, has beautiful surroundings and a strong community spirit. Often referred to as the most English city in New Zealand. It’s a vibrant place with arts, modern architecture, heritage buildings, and lots of green spaces. There are no hills or steep inclines in its center, making it a very easily walkable city.
Day 77, Thursday, November 21: Christchurch
We left Lake Tekapo late morning, at 9:30, drove to Christchurch, and shortly before 1 pm, parked the rental car in front of the Fable hotel. Our room wasn’t available yet (check-in time was 2 pm), but it was o.k. to leave our luggage there.
A 5-minute drive from the hotel took us to the rental car agency where we said goodbye to the car that served us well for almost three weeks. Steve drove 3599 kilometers!
We walked leisurely in the city until 2:30, seeing lovely buildings.
But we especially liked strolling on the promenade by the Avon River.
Walked by the Bridge and its Arch of Remembrance that serve as a war memorial.
Close by was the poignant Canterbury Earthquake National Memorial. Christchurch suffered a series of earthquakes from September 2010 until February 2011. The most destructive, in which 185 people lost their lives and thousands of buildings suffered severe damage, occurred on February 22, 2011. The rebuilding and redevelopment projects continue to this day – we saw lots of evidence of this around the city.
Back to the hotel to discover that our room wasn’t ready. It was a bit annoying, but we were finally in our room at 2:40 where we had our simple (and late) lunch.
We were tired, and I didn’t even feel like continuing our sightseeing, but we soldiered on. After 5, we went for another walk, this time reaching the Botanic Garden (too late to explore it in depth).
The lovely surprise was discovering the Canterbury College campus of the father of nuclear physics, Lord Ernest Rutherford, the New Zealand physicist. He is the one who first split the atom in 1917. I was so excited to be there, since I used to teach his discovery in my physics classes in Slovakia.
On the way back to the hotel, we saw that the Christ Church Cathedral, which was severely damaged in the earthquake, was still under reconstruction.
In the end of our walk, we checked out where the city’s sightseeing tram started and ended its route. This enclosed area, featuring many shops and restaurants, was next door to our hotel.
And what was left from the day? Two things. Packing for the next day’s flight home, and a good night’s sleep for the last time in New Zealand.
