Christchurch Botanic Gardens

I spend a lot of time in the Wellington Botanic Gardens, sometimes exploring them with my children during our weekly excursions there and sometimes strolling around on my lunchbreak, sipping a cup of tea. The Hamilton Gardens are also among my favourite places. So when we went to Christchurch, I was eager to explore their Botanic Gardens, and we were not disappointed. I've probably chosen too many photos, but I just adore them all, so... you get lots.

I don't know what these plants are, but don't they look just like roasted marshmallows on sticks?!

I love it when moss is so thick and consistent that you could believe you're looking at land instead of water.

(Actually when I was in Australia, I believe that Ted the Cavalier King Charles was fooled by just such an illusion, and ended up having a surprise swim.)

We had the most delightful time walking quietly through forested areas and watching the displays of the many Piwakawaka. They are very difficult to photograph, as they are constantly flitting rapidly about, but I managed to get a couple that are at least recognizable, if not clear.

I'm quite proud of the pictures, actually. Two Piwakawaka pictures is the best I've ever done, and both times you can see their beautifully fanned tails. Also, this was the first time I'd heard (or remember hearing) their voices, and they were entertaining, as they sounded like they were scolding us. Which maybe they were.

There were some incredible trees, including this one...

... and this one...

... and this one.

This is probably my favourite picture from the whole trip. I love the colours, and how peaceful it is, and it reminded us both of Japanese gardens, which we love.

This is called the Peacock Fountain, which I read about online, and I was very excited to see it, as I love peacocks. To my disappointment, it is named after a person whose last name is Peacock, and has a grand total of zero actual peacocks on it. However, it is still beautiful, so it's okay.

Should you chose to, while in Christchurch, you can go "punting on the Avon." Punting to me means kicking, and I hadn't realized that it was also the word for a flat bottomed boat, which I would have called a gondola. Then we remembered that they can't call it a gondola in Christchurch, because they have a renowned experience of going up above the city in an aerial lift (or gondola), which is called The Gondola. Having two gondola experiences would be confusing. Anyway, we did neither of these things due to J's motion sickness, but it was lovely to see people drifting by as well strolled around.

This is the Avon River, which runs along the edge of the Botanic Gardens and then through a lot of the town.

This is the approach to the World Peace Bell, and is an appropriately serene setting.

Here is the bell itself, which is quite beautiful, and makes a lovely, resonant noise when you rap on it with you fingers. I found the sound impressively light and beautiful for such a huge, heavy thing.

I know it's hard to see, but this stone says PEACE and then has it spelled out in NZ Sign Language letters. There were stones with the word peace in many, many languages.

I thought it would be better to let it explain itself than to parrot it. Pretty amazing, isn't it?

This is a Rangiora plant, the leaves of which are bright green on one side, and stark white on the other. J taught me that people used to use them as postcards because they worked like paper, and until relatively recently, you could see send them in the mail. They've now stopped that because the machines don't like them, but that's pretty cool! I've started collecting them with my children at our Botanic Gardens, and we're drying them so we can use them for artwork.

This is a Karaka tree, and the plaque below it said, "Often occurring naturally in coastal groves, the karaka is one of the few trees cultivated by Māori. The flesh surrounding the seed is poisonous, so the fruit had to be carefully prepared to remove all traces of the poison."

There were quite a few interesting sculptures there, but due to my continuing fascination with fern fronds and the koru (spiral) shape, this one was my favourite.

J thought these were tulips, and I don't think they are (although I have no more informed guess, either), but we both agreed that they were beautiful.

I think that these are cannas, because they remind me of the flowers Dad used to grow from bulbs. I am much better at appreciating flowers' beauty than at remembering their names, so whatever they are, I loved the vivid orange.

I would have loved to spend even more time exploring these beautiful gardens, but I am still having a lot of pain in my injured knee, and I need to avoid walking for very long. We took some breaks, and then when it was clear that I needed a longer time off my feet, we headed back towards town for lunch. We'll have to come back next time we visit, hopefully with uninjured knees.

Christchurch Earthquake

As I mentioned in my last post, Christchurch suffered a devastating earthquake in February 2011. It was a 6.2 and very shallow in the earth, and came a few months after an even stronger earthquake (7.1) had hit further out in the Canterbury countryside, causing some damage to buildings in the city. The result of these factors was extreme destruction to the city and the tragic deaths of 185 people, making this event NZ's fifth deadliest disaster. A national state of emergency was declared, and people were without electricity for several days, and without running water or sewage systems for much longer. I am not going to go into a lot of details about the quake itself, but if you'd like to read more, please click here and/or here.

As you will have noticed, February 2011 was over 7 years ago. Having been aware of this before going, I naively expected to see a completely rebuilt and thriving city that had left this horrible tragedy in the past. Turns out, this reflects my complete inability to comprehend the level of destruction that can occur during a natural disaster. In many ways, Christchurch is thriving, and the work and spirit that have clearly gone into rebuilding is amazing, but there is still so much work to do. And how could there not be, when the ground turned to liquid and buildings collapsed? The little glimpse that I got into how traumatic it must have been was quite overwhelming, and nothing at all compared to what people experienced.

One of the first things we noticed was this beautiful cathedral, which we could see out the window of our hotel. As we walked around it, (starting at the left end in this picture) we remarked that the windows were boarded up, but other than that it looked pretty good. Then we got around to the right side and saw where part of it had just fallen away. We learned that it is so dangerous that no one is allowed to go in there, even to clean things up, let alone to start repair work, so it's just sitting there and no one knows what is going to happen with it. It's heartbreaking to loose such a beautiful building and place of worship.

In response to losing a beloved cathedral, and in the complicated aftermath of living in a city where so many things needed to be fixed, there was a need for new an innovative ideas, and a Japanese "emergency architect" named Shigeru Ban was called on for aide. Over the next two years, Christchurch's "Cardboard Cathedral" was designed and built. According to the brochure we got, "It is made of cardboard, local wood, and steel, with a polished concrete floor and a strong polycarbonate roof. It is built to 130% of the current New Zealand earthquake code, making it very safe. It is designed to last for a least 50 years... The design is quite simple, with waves of cardboard tubes drawing the eye and the attention towards the cross and the altar. At full capacity, it seats nearly 700 people, yet it has a remarkable sense of both space and intimacy."  

This is the view from the front, including rather lovely stained glass windows.

And here is the side, showing the strong polycarbonate roof.

Inside, even the pulpit is made of cardboard rolls.

As are the choir seats. Also, notice the lovely light coming in between the enormous cardboard rolls that form the walls/ceiling. The light in the whole place was wonderful and uplifting.

If you'd like to read more about the Cardboard Cathedral, please click here.

Just down the street from the Cardboard Cathedral is this memorial, 185 Empty White Chairs. There is one for each person who died in the earthquake, and each one is different, representing the unique personalities and lives of the diverse people who lost their lives on that day.

It is a very moving monument, as it makes it personal to see each chair and think about people going about their daily lives and having it suddenly come to an end.

The website about the chairs, which you can access here, says, "The chairs were acquired from a number of sources. Many were purchased from Trade Me while others were donated by victims' families, friends and work colleagues.  The individuality of each chair pays tribute to the uniqueness of each person represented. From a baby capsule to a rocking chair, an office chair to a wheelchair, each chair is representative of different ages and stages of life and various cultures. The installation resonates with people by the ordinary, everyday nature of the chairs.  For instance, although nobody was killed in a wheelchair, 3 people have ended up in one and people have commented that they felt 'crippled' by the earthquakes. Everybody can find a chair, or series of chairs, that they can identify with."

(I couldn't actually bring myself to photograph the baby capsule they mentioned, and it brings tears to my eyes even now to see the little chairs for small children.)

We went by many, many buildings with scaffolding or support structures around them. Some were in the process of being repaired, and some were just being held together to prevent further danger to people. I can't remember how much they said this building would take to replace, but I did write down that the historic Town Hall was estimated to need $127 million in repairs. The tour guide who shared this with us also pointed out that it was a hard time to be an insurance company in Christchurch, as they're ending up paying astronomical amounts of money for repairs.

There are parts of the city that feel completely damage-free, and then parts where everything is still very much a work in progress.

This is the Isaac Theatre Royal, which has been fully repaired, at the bargain price of $40 million. It was the first one we got a dollar amount on, and I thought it was so high as to almost be unbelievable, until I started hearing numbers in the 100 and 200 millions, and then I had to re-evaluate.

We also learned that the new building code requires buildings to be no taller than 28 metres (92 feet or about 9 stories), so any buildings taller than that are earthquake survivors, which was interesting to consider as we walked through the city. Also, all the new buildings are built to exacting specifications to survive future earthquakes, and the goal is to make Christchurch the most earthquake-safe city in the country. 

It was enlightening for me to see what a city looks like 7 years after such devastation. As you'll see in my next post, lots of fun things are happening right next to clear evidence of the struggles local people have faced and are facing, and it was impressive to see how people had come together and worked through difficulty. I'll be very interested to visit again in a few years and see the continued evolution of this fascinating place.

Street Art in Christchurch

The weekend after my visit to Australia, J and I went on a adventure together, flying down to Christchurch on the South Island for the weekend. I'd never been there (except the airport), and J had only been there for work, so everything was new and interesting, and we had a fantastic time exploring this fascinating city. I discovered upon our return that we took a staggering number of pictures for such a quick visit, and that I didn't want to get rid of any of them, as they all had a story to tell. So I will divide them into several posts.

One thing we learned is that Christchurch has been celebrated in The Lonely Planet as one of the top ten cities in the world for its street art. We'd noticed some before learning this, and then started specifically keeping an eye out, and discovered that it was everywhere! Christchurch experienced a devastating earthquake back in 2011 (more about that in a future post), and since then, street art has been part of the process of rejuvenation for the city.

This is the first one I noticed, before we knew about Christchurch's street art prowess, and I was so impressed with it. J said it reminded him of the Time Traveller's Wife, and I just thought it was striking.

We kept riding by this one on the tram (more on the tram later), and each time we passed it, I noticed something new about it. (Notice the naked biker - that seems like an extremely uncomfortable idea!)

Many of the murals are imaginative to the point of being rather abstract, in my opinion.

Many of them also use colour in really eye-catching ways.

This one was right next to our hotel, and definitely J's favourite.

  

This set made me think of Alice in Wonderland.

I didn't realize at the time that I'd take a picture of a person taking a picture of this person who doesn't look like he really wants his picture taken.

Speaking of Alice in Wonderland, we found her later that day. And I didn't notice until I was looking at this picture at home that there are also some interesting characters watching a movie of the moon. I love the imagination!

I was delighted with these elephants, as well as with the inexplicable sign stating, "Wish you were here." Not sure if that's related to the elephants (or to anything around it at all), but it's a lovely sentiment.

When it was time to catch the bus back to the airport, we got there a bit early, and so while J rested, I walked a little way down the street, and stumbled upon some street art in progress! It was double lucky, as I love paintings of birds, so this was the perfect one for me to see taking shape.

I watched the artist work with his spray paint for a few minutes before I had to get back to catch the bus. It was fascinating how he layered colours and forms to get such detail out of a spray can.
(Also, I just noticed that his yellow vest blends in with the yellow plumage of his art, as do his jeans and his shadow with the darker grey. The line between artist and art seems a bit blurry.)

Even once we were on the bus starting the trip home, the street art kept coming. J spotted this full size car on the side of the building, and managed to snap a picture in the narrow window of time before we passed it by.

Next time we're in Christchurch, we'll continue to be on the lookout for art integrated into city life.