A Day in Downtown Christchurch

We drove into downtown Christchurch and parked in a residential neighborhood near Christchurch's big city park.  We walked to the botanical garden and stopped for tea and a goodie.  Leo had a date scone and I had an espresso cinnamon bun.  Plants were nice too.

We walked by the dahlia garden.  The gardener told us it was not as it's best due to recent rain storms.  It was pretty fantastic!  

On learning we were Canadians he confided that Donald Trump was not welcome in his garden.

Not at its best!  That tall shrub in the back right is a dahlia (annual). It doesn't flower till late fall after spending so much energy growing its vegetative parts.

We passed the fountain and walked into the CBD (central business district).

First we walked through this complex that survived the earthquake.

The Arts Centre, galleries and concert spaces

Lots of construction and modern buildings in the city centre.

We wandered about and had lunch at the Riverside Market.

New buildings, Maori art

Then we followed the River Avon.

Lovely greenspace in the city

  Apparently they've really fixed it up since the earthquake, returning it to nature with lots of native plantings and inviting the wildlife back.

We passed by the boat sheds, where you can take a punting tour.

Back in the city, there's lots of murals

And lots more modern buildings.  There's not much evidence of the earthquake left

Christchurch Convention Centre

But lots of open spaces that are presumably the sites of demolished buildings.

Christchurch Cathedral, however, has not yet been restored.  It's surrounded by a big fence with photos of it after the quake and plans for its recovery.

Here's how it looks now.  There's no activity at all on the site.

I suspect they have run out of money.

We visited the Christchuch Art Gallery in a large modern building.  There was an exhibit of a New Zealander photographer (European) who photographed all the places that Captain Cook visited, including where he was killed in Hawaii.

Then we had tea and a slice at the gallery cafe.

Nice china. The art was nice too.

Then we walked back through the botanical park to our car.  We happened by this wollemi pine.

Of interest to us because we camped in Wollemi National Park in Australia.  It was here they discovered a stand of wollemi pine, long thought extinct.  We couldn't visit them though because their location is a secret to protect the trees.  Also probably a long bushwack through thick Australian forest.  Great to finally see one.

And that was our last day in New Zealand. The next day we turned in our van at the rental agency, caught an Uber to the airport and began our long flight to Vancouver.