Christchurch, still in regeneration

So we left Kiakoura mid morning and headed for Christchurch. We stopped of around half way for a milkshake and stretch of the legs.

On arriving at Christchurch and having got through all the outer suburbs to get to the city centre we parked up outside the botanic gardens and paid the $3.10 for 1hr, owch! I headed into the I-Site and picked up a city map and found that there was free parking around the corner for 3hrs. So after our lunch we moved to the free parking and wandered into the city centre to see the ‘Red Zone’. we decided to take the punt tour along the river avon which went through the Red Zone [the no go area] as they are still pulling down buildings and stabilising others. After this we headed down Gloucester St which is open to walk through the middle of the Red Zone and allows you to get to the Cathedral which is a controversial topic on weather it should be knocked down or saved, knock it down is my view. We also saw a 1929 Austin 7 being driven around.

We wandered towards container city or ReStart as it is also known. This is an area just outside the Red Zone which has lots of different coloured containers which have been laid out and are used as shops, its a really colourful and busy area. We stopped of for a coffee and had a look around the market and shops before headed back to the van.

From here on to one of the northern suburbs to a RSA club to stay for the night in their car park. Naturally, popped in for a beer before retiring to the van to blog and read with some more beer.

Later on I headed of to the local shopping mall to make use of the free WiFi to upload some of my blog.