Nov 17th & 18th – Our Sunday plan was to attend church and then have a quiet day – no travel, an afternoon rest, a good book, and a game of scrabble. We didn’t quite get to the scrabble game choosing instead to walk around town a bit instead. Words cannot express the change that has occurred in this city, after three major earthquakes. At least 1,000 buildings have been torn down in the city centre with another 300 scheduled for demolition. This count includes 80 churches. Our apartment building, at seven stories, is one of the tallest buildings remaining.

As we were driving to church, we wondered why all the motels had ‘no vacancy’ signs out. We found out why on our city bus tour on Monday – they lost fully 60 percent of their hotel accommodation. The only hotel we have seen in the downtown core is the Novotel which appears to be brand new.

Our Monday morning Grand Tour (four Canadians, two Germans) took us first to the Avon River where we spent half an hour punting through the city. We suggested that doing this every Monday morning would be a great, stress-reducing way to start the work week. After a bit of a tour of some of the important city buildings that are slated for repair, we were delivered to the caterpillar at the botanic gardens for a one-hour guided tour. They certainly grow trees big in New Zealand and I don’t think I have ever seen such a beautiful rose garden anywhere. All 1200 rose bushes were in full bloom!

From there we headed southeast to the Port Hills area, a collapsed crater rim of an extinct volcano. We toured a number of beachside towns to see the changes created by the earthquakes and the rebuilding efforts. It appears that Christchurch has cornered the market on orange traffic cones – seen everywhere – and shipping containers – used as temporary measures to line road verges which border unsafe cliff faces.

A gondola took us up the mountain for a 360 degree view including lunch at the top.

Obviously the cost to the country is huge. The national government has allocated up to $100,000 per building for repairs/rebuild/replacement – the remainder is expected to be paid by insurance claims and the owner. On our walk downtown we met an insurance adjuster who works for the company that covers the Anglican diocese. He said they found that none of the buildings were insured at the proper level. We also discovered on our tour that the Anglican Bishop, Victoria Matthews, a Canadian, is not a favourite amongst the folk of Christchurch. You may have heard that the cathedral was seriously damaged and the diocese decided it should be torn down and rebuilt. People of Christchurch (most who likely don’t ever attend the cathedral) have challenged that decision in court. We also inspected the main Baptist Church called Oxford Terrace BC. It was completely demolished, and a portable building has been built as a temporary site while fundraising continues towards erecting a new building. Check out their website at http://www.otbc.org.nz for pictures and more information.

Having experienced a day of earthquake information, was it ironic that we felt a tremor as we were getting ready for bed? Just 4.6 they say.