Blimey, everything’s starting to run into everything else. What did we do today? I know that when I set out I was prepared for it to be chilly, so was wearing a polyprop, my Thunderbirds jumper, and my 3-in-1 jacket and that we hadn’t gone too far when the jumper was squashed into my bag. The TV3 news tonight said that Christchurch’s high at 3.00pm was 19°C and I can believe it. We were only one less than the nation’s high in Kaikoura.
We walked into town via a different street
this morning, and still managed to find ourselves in an area we’d been in at
least twice before. This included the site of the CTV building. There was a
note from the council on the fence saying that they were still deciding what to
do with this site where 115 people had died. The museum was archiving any ‘old’
memorials for future ‘display’ and anything organic was being composted. There
isn’t a lot there now, just a floral tribute and a poem about the foreign
language students who perished.
It was very sad and we left our own tribute. A
copy of the “Museums Thames” pamphlet (the only loose paper we had) on which
we’d written “with love and respect” and signed our names.
It is a very sad spot.
Two
things we had planned on doing when we came to Christchurch.
Last
week there was a story on Campbell Live about a place in Woolston that had used
to be a tannery. Some guy had decided to do it up (I don’t know if this was
before or after the earthquakes) and create a version of a Victorian Arcade,
such as they have (apparently) in Melbourne and I saw in Leeds, England. This
was a place that we wanted to see, so we boarded a bus ($3.20 for me, free for
D.C.). I asked the driver where the nearest stop was, and he said it stopped
right outside.
It was a
good trip, through such suburbs as Bromley, which I think must be the dead
centre of town as we passed two large cemeteries and a burial crematorium. It
was also a brilliantly fine day, so we were able to see the Port Hills much
clearer.
We
reached Woolston and I saw “The Tannery” so I pushed the button and we got out
at the stop on the other side of the road. So did the driver: “I can let you
out outside on the way back.”
So we
got back into the bus and he dropped us off at the door on his homeward leg.
There
aren’t many businesses open there yet, but there are plenty more signed up as
more shops become available. I only hope that the seven or so already trading
can survive until then.
The ladies' |
Where they make the wrought iron steelwork for the signs etc. |
We had
lunch at one of the restaurants at 12.00. They were full and getting fuller and
we were directed to a table that was going to be reserved at 12.45. We didn’t
receive our meal until 12.30, so we swapped to a table reserved at 1.00. But it
was delicious (the food, not the table). We had pork schnitzel on quartered
spring potatoes and beans, and apple juice. (Too hot for hot chocolate), and we
finished just as the table’s occupants came in. While I was paying D.C. was
recommending the pork.
Christchurch
has an excellent bus service, and if you catch another metropolitan bus service
within two hours of your purchasing your ticket you don’t have to pay again. We
came out of the tannery about 2.25 hours afterwards. So I had to pay another
$3.20 to catch the bus again.
This
time we didn’t get out at the central bus depot, but kept on going to Riccarton
Bush. (Once again the bus driver was very helpful and told us where to alight.)
Riccarton
was where the Deans brothers first settled in 1843, when they emigrated from
Scotland.
Homestead undergoing earthquake repairs |
The first cottage the Deans settled into after leasing the land. |
In case you have a one track mind; yes, Robbie Deans is related. Can you see the family resemblance? |
They leased land off the local Maori and over time the family came to
realise that the native bush of the Canterbury was disappearing. They therefore
decided to protect the last remaining twelve hectares. Now the bush is ringed
by a predator free fence.
We
walked the Kahikatea loop slowly, savouring the beauty of the tall stands of
trees, some well over 300 years old. We were passed five times by some guy who
was clearly getting his daily exercise, and if you had the opportunity to
exercise in beauty like this on well-defined paths, who wouldn’t?
Kahikatea trees |
Blue sky and the moon's out |
I walked
through trying to listen to the birds. I could hear exotics like doves,
thrushes, and blackbirds and native fantails, grey warblers and bellbirds. We
even got to see a bellbird!
But we
could also here the noise of the road and the work being done on the Deans
homestead.
We had a water tank like those at Rangitoto (except ours is all rusty and full of holes). They're crockery containers. |
High finance.
This
time we got out back at the bus depot and (after checking the gold card thing)
got on the bus back to the motel. This time it was within the two hour margin
and neither of us had to pay.
We got
back to the motel, dumped our bags, had a little rest, and then went down the
road to the restaurants we found last night. This time we had a sit down Thai
meal, which was all vegetables to make up for lunch being mainly three very
tasty hunks of meat.
Then we
came back to the motel, watched Campbell Live, kind of packed our bags (aka
dumping things into them) and went to bed to read and write.
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