New Zealand

I arrived in New Zealand yesterday, took a shuttle to the hotel in the city center, right near the famous church. Christchurch is still in the middle of recovering from the major earthquake in 2010. All buildings are in somewhere between abandoned, half standing, demolished, empty lot, repaired, or brand new.

The city is full of little gardens, parks and squares that make for very pretty walks to wander around (while dodging construction sites). The botanical gardens were beautiful.

There are lots of coffee shops everywhere and they all boast some sort of large "Builders Breakfast". They have amazing Chai tea. I had a bagel with cream cheese and pesto at one across the street, it was delicious.

The church with the colorful triangles is the temporary one finished about a year after the earthquake. It is called the Cardboard Cathedral because it is made out of gaint cardboard packing tubes (you can see them in the ceiling), plastic and the metal from shipping containers. The floor is heated concrete and the natural lighting and innovative construction makes for a very different, minimalist look.

The the re-start mall is entirely made from shipping containers, which was transformed in to really cool looking space for small restaurants and shops.

The famous old church is around the block from where I am staying. It really shows the destruction that happened here. The front of the church fell down about a month ago. I have overlayed a picture of what it used to look like on top of the ruin that is there now. Even without the front and the tower the church is still very impressive.