Monday, February 5, 2024: Day 364 – The Trifecta

We usually plan to do two things a day but today we are going for three.

Walking Tour

Christchurch is the second largest city with a population of 400,000. Originally, the site consisted of dense swamp land with mostly flax. Spring fed fresh water comes from southern alpine glaciers.

Canterbury College produced a researcher named Ernest Rutherford who was the first man to split the atom. His likeness is on the $100 New Zealand note.

Ironically, there was only one Māori tribe in the south; whereas there were 25 tribes in the north. This tribe went through the mountains to the West Coast where they discovered large amounts of greenstone or jade and used it for trade with the other tribes.

Abel Tasman was the first white man to spot NZ. Not only were the Māori amazed to see these strange men in strange boats, the sounds were previously unheard of like bells, etc.

International explorers were trying to be the first to reach the South Pole. Robert Falcon Scott, representing Britain, wanted to be the first. However, when he arrived, the Norwegian flag was there. He and his team died from hypothermia on the return trip.

Christchurch is known for being the most English city outside of England. Earthquakes have destroyed a lot of buildings but not the British street names.

In 1874, the building of the Christchurch Cathedral began. It took 40 years to build and 40 seconds to come down. After the earthquake, there were 4,000 aftershocks lasting six months.

After the earthquake 50,000 people left the city for fear of more earthquakes. That is ⅛ of the population. However, construction jobs are plentiful and people move here from other countries.

Fifty percent of the buildings in the Central Business District were destroyed. Out of the 185 people who died in the earthquake, one hundred fifteen were in the CTV building. It housed the TV station, medical clinic, and English learning school. The building was not built to earthquake standards, and litigation is ongoing today.

Liquefaction is kind of like muddy quicksand that comes up out of the ground during an earthquake. A Student Army from Canterbury College in Christchurch reached out to help the community.

Murals are commonplace in big cities. This one is made with varying brick colors to reveal a girl’s face. Graffiti was unknown before the earthquake but is now approved and sanctioned by the city as an art form.

New buildings today can only be built seven stories high. The government and citizens agreed. Higher buildings like our hotel remain as they survived the earthquake.

A large sports and entertainment arena is being built because facilities are lacking for international events. For example, Taylor Swift won’t be coming here.

Ahhh! To be a child again!!

Margaret Mahy Park, named after the famous author of children’s literature, was designed by children.

They have been intentional about making spaces for people to connect. Here are some children feeding eels. The eels are carnivores and are wild about cat treats.

This Mexican restaurant had a unique spelling.

Poppies are worn by Kiwis for the month of April. ANZAC Day is acknowledged each year on April 25 which was the date of the end of WWI.

I have put this picture in before. However, I didn’t notice that both sides of this Spanish style street are mirror images of each other.

Punting on the Avon

Antigua Boat Sheds is a NZ Heritage Building and has been a presence in Christchurch for over 130 years. The punter goes through the Botanical Gardens which boasts plants from all over the world.

Christchurch is often called the Garden City. They purposely placed the city hospital overlooking the botanical garden as looking at the window cheers one up no matter if you are sick or caring for the sick.