sights and delights

Some sobering sights and some delights found.  Yesterday we went into the red zone of Christchurch-where the most damage has happened and the central business district.   Paul showed us empty lots where buildings once stood, and fenced off areas around buildings not safe for anyone to go in that were in question what to do next.  A whole heart of a city cut off from itself, and we learned today the week after the quake last February about 75,000 people fled the city not to return.   We headed to the beach area to see the shore, driving through some very empty neighborhoods-the ground has liquefied around some of these areas making the houses inhabitable.  Christchurch was built on a swamp that you can see on the tidal inlets so this ground has made it impossible for the rebuilding to happen quickly for the city.  Some rockslides near the beach cliffs have left some houses dangling or ripped in half, and shipping containers have been stacked three high to act as retaining walls.  The beaches here are so different from home: extreme wind and chilly waters, but some kite surfers braved it in the distance.  We did get our fish and chips in one of these beachside towns, and found an ice cream shop that offered TWO kinds of hokey pokey flavor-we went for the deluxe version, and also tried the local kiwi/pavlova flavor.  Yum!-so hokey-pokey is a national favorite something like dulce de leche/caramel/buttercruch (we bought a whole container for the house the next day!)    Did I mention that I had been driving all this time??  Being a passenger for a day helped me get a passive perspective on the whole left side driving thing and I finally braved it-left is right and vice versa!!  (at home I hate making left hand turns, now it will be right ones)   Paul took the wheel and brought us up to the hills again-Kogen was itching to hike more.  There are amazing views on the bay of crazy blue-green waters with mountains of the Banks Peninsula all around.  We will spend more time here…

Today brought us to the amazing city park not far from us-Hagley Park.  We spent the day in the botanical gardens marveling at the ginormous trees (some conquered by Kogen) and followed the paths that meandered through garden and river.  After lunch at paul’s first residence here (YMCA with the best cappacino!) we found the Antiqua boathouse along the Avon River where we went punting-a bit like a gondola with rows of cushioned seats and our “driver” in the back punting us along with a 20 foot stick.  This was really the first time we felt like tourists here.  All this while of exploring our area both close to home and afar, we have been exchanging phone calls with the very nice but not too efficient folks tracking down Kogen’s bag.  Happy to say it was waiting at our doorstep this evening as we returned from a walk!!  He had handled it all so well-borrowing from both Alex and Mia depending on what he needed and we did buy some NZ clothes too.  First to emerge from the suitcase was his stuffed Frodo-poor guy-we can only guess where he has been!!!  Such is the fate of a Baggins.