We arrived into Christchurch on a KiwiRail scenic train, 2 hours later than originally planned. There had been a problem with the engine during our journey and it had ended up causing a long delay for the rest of the journey. Who knew spending all day on a bus then a train could be so exhausting?
We arrived in Christchurch tired and achey, in that way only long journeys can make you feel. You would think having a 45 minute walk to stretch out our tired muscles would make us feel better buuuuut you would be wrong. Walking with a huge backpack, my day bag, and the food bag was just too much. 15 1/2 hours into the travelling we had done that day, I ended up sat on a bench crying that I couldn't keep going.
You would think that that would have left me with a terrible first impression of the city. Dragging myself to our accommodation with tear-streaked cheeks doesn't exactly scream "I'm glad to be here."
Well, you would probably have been as surprised as Tom was when I told him just how much I was enjoying being in Christchurch. I can't quite explain what it was about the place that made me like it so much. I wrote about it here, trying to figure it out myself.
The feeling that was coming from the city rebuilding itself into something new, something better, after such a terrible event really resonated with me. The perfect place for that moment in my life.
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One of the things that sticks out when I think about Christchurch is the huge variety of graffiti on show in the city. Some of it was just tags on crumbled old buildings, some were commissioned pieces dotted around the centre, and then there were the two pieces we found in a gravel car park that were apparently adverts for the nearby strip club.
I loved the way you could walk through streets full of buildings that still showed the effects of the earthquake, and suddenly find yourself faced with a wall full of colour.
Tom and I had no idea what we have found when we stumbled on the RE:Start Mall. At first it looked like a collection of brightly coloured shipping containers randomly stacked by the side of the road.
You can imagine our surprise when we found out shops were inside them. I loved the "courtyard" bit of it, with the coffee shops and food stalls on one side and the tourist shops on the other.
It was always full of people when we were there and somehow the sun was always shining. It left me with the best impression of this little place! It's one of the few places I wish I could revisit.... without the 22.5 hour flight of course.
Walking around Christchurch was bizarre. You could be walking down a normal city street and suddenly find yourself facing the aftermaths of the earthquake. Buildings with broken windows, walls missing... I've never seen anything like it before.
This was a little coffee shop in RE:Start Mall; they had a "pay it forward" scheme which I thought was awesome, I'd never seen one in person before.
Also can we just take a moment to appreciate my hair in this picture. Choosing to grow out 7 years of hair dye in a country where no one knows me was a good idea but having photo proof of it wasn't. Would you look at those roots!
Don't be fooled by how calm and happy I look in this photo, nonchalantly stood in front of one of my favourite views in New Zealand.
We had to ride in a Gondola to reach this spot and we all know that by Gondola I mean steel box of hell on the line of nightmares. NIGHTMARES.
And this is how our visit ended, with our first ever rental car! An automatic Nissan Sunny in pearly off-white.
We had a devastating moment when we realised the back seats didn't fold down. Where on earth were we going to put Tom's bike?!
The panic didn't last long though; we managed to squeeze it all in somehow. You can see the bag stuffed into the backseat, with Tom's bike just in front of it. It was a tight squeeze. The wheels ended up stuffed in the boot mind, it was a juggle. Who knew stuffing everything into a car could be almost as bad as carrying it around?!
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