Rebuilding Christchurch

The very first city Abbey and I visited here in New Zealand had a lot riding on it. It was our first real glimpse of the country, and after 40 hours of traveling, we had high expectations. Needless to say, Christchurch was amazing.

In 2011, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake rattled the city centre, killing 185 people and damaging a majority of the city's prized landmarks. Since then, construction has been widespread, and noticeable on almost every street you walk on. It plays a huge part in everyday life, redirecting traffic- both car and foot, closing businesses, museums and parks. To this day, there are still whole streets blocked off, the businesses that inhabited these buildings long moved on.

One of the worst hit places was the Cathedral. The earthquake had damaged so much of the structure that there are plans to demolish the entire building and replace it. Through the damage, you can tell that it was a beautiful building. The city has created a square around the cathedral, with various pieces of art and flowers, trying to bring some life back to the site.

View point of Cathedral

Painted rocks with messages of hope from the people of Christchurch.

Because this cathedral is damaged and therefore unusable, Christchurch took the opportunity to create a new temporary one, but with a twist. Cardboard Cathedral is literally a building made out of cardboard. Of course there are other elements to it- the building has to be up to a certain code- but the majority of it is actually cardboard. When we were trying to find it, we couldn't tell if the building was it or not- neither one of us knew what to expect. It is a fully functioning place, with all the aspects you would expect from a cathedral. When we visited, there was a super cute boys choir practicing- and dang, they could sing.

Instead of just moving businesses and other places that were damaged in the earthquake to usable buildings, Christchurch took this opportunity to be creative- and make something never seen before. The city mall was badly damaged- so Christchurch created Re:START Mall, where the stores are all in shipping carts.

Art also plays a major role throughout the city. Some of the most interesting and intricate pieces of graffiti came out of the most damaged areas. Banksy even had his own exhibit at the Canterbury Museum. You would see some piece of art on almost every corner.

 

Canterbury Museum

Weave wall: all sorts of different materials weaved together  that you could add to. 

My favorite place in all of Christchurch was the Rose Garden. It was so beautiful with roses of all sizes and colors. People were reading and bathing in the sun and I could have spent hours and hours there. It was one of the few places we found that wasn't affected by the earthquake too.

It definitely takes a toll on you to see a city in a state like this, even 3 years after the earthquake. But the construction doesn't obscure the heart and soul of the city, trying to make the most of the situation-making a unique experience here as tourists, and a great first stop on our New Zealand journey.