During our recent visit to Christchurch we got to see first hand the devastation the earthquakes have brought upon this city and its people. While there are lots of new subdivisions under construction there are still streets of broken houses and buildings. We visited a whole new town called Pegasus which felt very weird and looked like a set from Stepford Wives. It was all brand new and laid out beautifully but it had no character and any minute it felt like a camera would start rolling and beautiful people would emerge to act.
Still I can see the attraction of this when your house now looks like this...
In Kaiapoi there were streets and streets filled with quake damaged houses like this one where the residents had just had to walk away and find a new home...like my Auntie Judy who has just moved into her new home 3 years after the last quake. This was a hard and heartbreaking journey for her and her family. (though I love the astro turf lawn they have installed, the kids said it felt like Christmas trees!)
In the inner city tower cranes are everywhere as buildings are torn down and restoration and rebuild begins.
However, I saw Canterbury spirit everywhere including this huge metal bow on the scaffolding surrounding the art centre and lots of street art in the inner city. Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries before I could capture it all. First rule of holidays, carry extra batteries!
Thank goodness for Google...
Just one of the wall pieces we saw on our drive around.
This newly erected letterbox sculpture in Kaiapoi looks amazing!
So don't be scared and go check out the amazing place that Christchurch is becoming...and the only earthquake we felt was when we arrived back home in the North Island.
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