Out and About in Christchurch

From The Willows to Weedons it was just a short 22km trip, and we arrived by lunchtime.  This is quite a large NZMCA Park with a maximum number of 130 and there were plenty of spaces available at that time of the day, but of course, the vans continue to roll in later in the afternoon and early evening.  We will be here for several days, we have people to see, and places to go. 

Weedons NZMCA Park, Christchurch

Fellow bloggers (The Circumferous Gibbs) Dave and Nancy called around to see us, they had been following our blog and knew that Weedons would be our next stop.  It was so nice to catch up with them again, the last time was during our previous trip down to the South Island.  We had plenty to talk about, discussing trips, both previous, current and in the future, and people we had in common.  Dave and Nancy are planning a big North Island trip in a few months time, so of course they are rather excited about that.

Dave and Nancy called to see us

The next day we drove in to Christchurch CBD to see any changes since our last time here in 2018, when the city was still in recovery mode.  On Tuesday 22 February 2011, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake caused severe damage in Christchurch and Lyttleton, killing 185 people and injuring several thousand.  This earthquake occurred on a shallow fault line close to the city, so the shaking was particularly destructive.  The earthquake brought down many buildings damaged in the previous earthquake in September, especially older brick and mortar buildings. Heritage buildings suffered heavy damage, and two-thirds of the buildings in the central business district were subsequently demolished, including the city’s tallest building, the Hotel Grand Chancellor. Many residential properties were so baby damaged that they were levelled, while others waited quite some time for extra builders to arrive from across the country to carry out repairs.  The Anglican Christchurch Cathedral was very badly damaged, and after years of wrangling, the work has only just begun on the repairs.

Christchurch Cathedral

Another casualty of the 2011 earthquake was The Bridge and Arch of Remembrance.  The repairs included replacing the original 4m piles with much longer 27m piles, and the arch has been reinforced with an 8.2 tonne beam.  This work means that the arch, built from rock quarried in Tasmania, will rock rather than twist in any future earthquakes.  The Bridge and Arch of Remembrance serve as a memorial to servicemen and women of two World Wars, and later conflicts in Korea, Malaya, Borneo and Vietnam.  It was so nice to see it repaired and in use again.

Bridge and Arch of Remembrance

The city was packed with people, and as we found out later, two cruise ships were visiting.  Buskers were performing to throngs of people at various spots throughout the city centre.  Let’s get out of here away from these crowds and  go to Lyttleton, we decided.  We drove through the Lyttleton Tunnel, the longest tunnel in the South Island at nearly 2km in length,

Through the long tunnel

Up the hill we drove, joining several other vehicles at the Lookout, all snapping photos of the views of the port and harbour, or taking selfies, as tourists do.  There was a huge pile of coal in one corner of the port, with a big long conveyor belt to move the coal around.

 

Views from the Lookout

What we had really come here for was to check out the Timeball Station, which was damaged beyond repair in the earthquake.  The Timeball Station was one of only five in the world known to be still in working order. From 1876 to 1934 a ball was dropped on its mast on the stone tower signaling the time to ships in Lyttleton Harbour, and to allow corrections of ships chronometers.  After the earthquake, workers numbered the stones, stored them in crates, while plans were made to fund and re-erect the tower.  The $3 million project got underway, and the tower was reconstructed in the style of the original stone masonry, complete with a newly coated zinc timeball painted in the original colours.  The timeball drops each day at 1.00pm.

Lyttleton Timeball

From this vantage point I also spotted those two large cruise ships in the port.  No wonder there were so many people everywhere in the city and in the tiny town of Lyttleton.  We also saw plenty of coaches bringing cruise ship passengers back from day trips further afield.

Two cruise ships in the harbour

Son Michael lives in Christchurch and we met up with him for lunch  at the interesting café/restaurant/wedding venue, The Sign of the Takahe, which I had heard about.  It was so nice to see him again, and as you can imagine, there was plenty to chat about.  We will meet up again with him shortly before we leave Christchurch and make our way southwards. 

Jenny and Michael

It was interesting to find out about this building, which looks just like a small castle.  Built in the Gothic Revival style by Harry Ell, it is one of four historic rest houses constructed for those walking the scenic reserves of the Port Hills.  With a beautiful medieval style interior built to impress, even a set of armour standing by, and lovely gardens, no wonder this building is much in demand as a wedding venue.  The other three buildings in this chain of rest houses are The Sign of the Kiwi, The Sign of the Bellbird, and the Sign of the Packhorse.  We may have to investigate further, I think.

 

Sign of the Takahe building

Medieval style interiors

The wind here in Weedons is ceaseless, and seems to get stronger as the afternoon wears on.  So much so that it is cold and unpleasant to do much sitting outside, or to have the awning out.  But we have had a few lovely sunsets.  Robin caught this lovely golden glow over the tops of the caravans and campers as the light was fading.

Sunset at Weedons

The following day we had a couple of chores to do, refill the gas bottle and visit the laundromat.  For a change the gas bottle didn’t run out in the middle of a wet and stormy night, as often happens.  As we had been  so impressed with the beautiful Sign of the Takahe building, we decided to visit another of the Harry Ell’s rest houses.  This time, The Sign of the Kiwi, high up on Summit Road.  Up and up we drove, wondering if we would ever reach the summit.  We finally arrived, and once again had trouble finding a park, luckily someone was ready to depart so we sneaked into that spot on the side of the road rather quickly.  We walked up the steps into another beautiful stone building – there were plenty of customers inside.

Sign of the Kiwi Rest house

This café advertises “The best date scones in town” and the certainly were.   Date scones are a real favourite with Robin, so that was his choice, and I had a lemon slice, but rather wish I’d ordered a date scone as well.  We enjoyed our light lunch and cold drinks, and sat and admired the interior of the building.

Rest a Whyle – the original purpose of the rest houses

There was an interesting looking stone column outside, and what did I see hanging from it but a wooden sign blowing in the breeze showing a kiwi.  And the views up so high on Summit Road are amazing.  There were scores of crazy cyclists around, zipping down the road by the café, and then along the cycle tracks in the hills.  Some of these cyclists stop off at The Kiwi Rest house for a cool drink, ice-cream, and comfort stop, so the vision of Harry Ell is alive and well.  That’s two Rest houses we have tracked down, perhaps we will try and find the other two next time we stay in Christchurch.

Stone column and a view from the top

Our time at Christchurch is almost at an end – we are visiting son Michael again today, then we pack up and drive to Ashburton tomorrow.  Just hope that dratted cold wind doesn’t follow us down there.