Christchurch

Spent the day in Christchurch and it was very gratifying. There is a spirit about the place despite the continued hardship. And there has been some real progress in terms of regeneration. Very, very few buildings survived sufficiently to be repaired and parking lots in the town centre that used to be buildings far outnumber new developments. The town centre is still something of a bomb site, for want of a better phrase, in a lot of places. Nonetheless it's vibrant and upbeat and absolutely full of tourists! The city has created a temporary memorial to those that died in the disaster called 185 missing chairs. It is literally that. 185 chairs, of all shapes, types and sizes, all painted white, and set out in rows on a leveled plot on the road side. Hugely poignant. It is sited behind what they have called the Cardboard Cathedral. It's another temporary arrangement which is acting as the city's cathedral until a new one is built. It's made entirely out of reclaimed materials that can be reused/recycled when it is time to take it down. If you look closely at the picture you may be able  to spot a few things. It's called the Cardboard Cathedral because much of it is cardboard! There's a 'Restart Mall' which is constructed entirely of storage/shipping containers and was put up as soon as possible after the disaster as a symbol for the future of the city centre. It's really clever. And then there's the park and botanic gardens where you can lose yourself, and if you were dropped in there you wouldn't even realise there was a problem! But I actually liked the feel of it better than Auckland and it's still only a work in progress! It's been more than four years since the second of the two earthquakes struck and I'd love to come back in another four years and see it again.
A number of pictures as much for me as for you!
Re-start Mall first.
Glen x