Road Trip through New Zealand: Christchurch

     We were now in Christchurch, so we walked around the city hoping to find something to do, however, there wasn’t much. The city has been hit by two major earthquakes, one in 2010 and then another in 2011; almost completely destroying the city. A number of people died and the city needs a lot of reconstruction still. Driving in Christchurch is really annoying, mostly because a lot of the streets are under-construction or are simply closed. Many buildings sit empty and parts of the city look like a ghost town; businesses that have fled but never emptied out their stores. We passed a Starbucks that hasn’t been opened since the earthquake but their furniture is still inside. We also saw some retail stores like Just Jeans, whose products are all over the place inside. A lot of the buildings will have to be demolished and built from the ground up, but I’m not sure where the population is to bother with reconstruction. 

We found a cute part of the city where businesses have been set up using temporary shipping containers – I love containers – and it’s very welcoming. We ate lunch there and went for another walk to buy books. Why did we feel the need to buy books? Because we had nothing to do, so we bought books and sat and read them.

     We met up with Robert again and visited him at his hostel. We managed to cook dinner there and snuck in a shower, then we slept in our car which was parked right out front on the street. Unfortunately street lights can be very annoying and make it difficult to get a good night’s sleep.