An overseas guest was staying and wanted to see the inner city and the effects of the earthquake. We started at the Transitional Cathedral by Latimer Square. An area inside had been roped off and we were told this was because some vandal had thrown a rock through the stained glass window a few days previously. There was concern that more glass might fall although that seemed unlikely.
In the photo you can see that a central (white) panel has been taped up.
Next stop was the 185 Empty Chairs memorial which is now situated behind the Cathedral, then across to the CTV site, the Nature Play Park, and the Christchurch Club. Further down Worcester Street we viewed the Trinity Congregational Church (more recently Octagon Restaurant) and the Christ Church Cathedral.
After a visit to Ballantynes we went to Quake City, the first time I’ve seen it. There’s a $10 entrance charge ($8 for seniors), and it’s well worth while. We spent about two hours there. Some of the exhibits had previously been in the Earthquake Exhibition at the Canterbury Museum, but there were new things too. The highlight for both of us was a film which lasted over an hour and showed interviews with quake survivors. This was incredibly moving, for me especially because several of the survivors were speaking about their experiences in an area very close to where I was during the February earthquake. The other highlight was a digital display of cartoons by Al Nisbet. Some of these I’d seen in the “Press” but many were new. My Australian companion found he could understand and appreciate most of them, and we both wished they’d been published in book form.
We lunched in the Restart Mall, then walked north from the Bridge of Remembrance along the river, where Tree Tech had just felled two mature chestnut trees and looked as though they might be about to take more. I hope there’s a good reason for this, it’s such a shame to see our large trees go. Along Gloucester Street we saw the Sound Garden, the Julia Morison sculpture, the Reading Room, and the tram before heading down New Regent Street. There was still the Band Rotunda, the PGC site, the Hi-Viz tree and the Fire-Fighters’ Memorial to see before we visited the Think Differently Book Exchange, and returned home.
The tour had taken us six hours, and I was exhausted from all the walking and talking. There was so much more we might have seen (and many murals I haven’t mentioned), and I think this was an excellent route for showing someone our inner city. My guest was born in Christchurch but has lived overseas for many years, and was last here six years ago.
“This was an ideal route to take
to show what happened in earthquake.”
What an excellent tour. Perhaps emotionally exhausting as well as physically so.
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And, yes, I hope there was a very good reason for removing those big trees.
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