Tuesday 20 September 2011

Christchurch (posted from Queenstown)

After 36 hours of travel we land in Christchurch. Unfortunately our luggage does not. It turns out that a 1 hour turn around is considered plenty of time to navigate 2 security checks and an entire terminal, but not enough for our bags to be moved from one plane to another. Thankfully I post this with the bags returned 24 hours later, which is good as the replacement Stag brand underwear I bought was starting to develop its own life forms.

Our hostel by the beach is basic, but with a good atmosphere and some friendly folk. However New Brighton appears to close at 10pm on weeknights, including all local bars, which pretty much everyone has noticed. It makes having massive nights out a little difficult  to do, although our first night was aided by a 48 hour stretch without having slept outside of a plane. There's nothing like the crazy buzz of 4 pints and utter sleep deprivation.

Christchurch itself is, or rather was, no doubt a lovely town with old style architecture mixed in with newer buildings but the damage from the February earthquake was more widespread than I'd ever suspected, the entire city centre turned in to a red-zone with no access and the majority of buildings within a square mile condemned to destruction. A walk around revealed the extent of the carnage and it's a crying shame that one of my first photos is of this.

However areas do still flourish and the interesting-if-pricey "Antarctic Discovery Center" by the airport passed an afternoon of -18 degree weather simulators, 4-D films on the Antarctic and a ride in a Haagland ATV (google it...I'll wait here while you do...cool aren't they?)



All in all, not a bad start. Now to Queenstown to begin the partying. 

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