Nov 22nd – Today was our last day in Christchurch and New Zealand was crying…well really it was just raining when we woke up. We are currently sitting in the airport awaiting our flight to Auckland. Tomorrow morning we leave for Honolulu.

After packing our cases into the car and rationalizing our leftover food, we left our car in the apartment parking lot and headed downtown one more time. There were a number of things we wanted to do/see not the least of which was a ride on the trolley. George is a streetcar fan, so this was a must. We got on at the Cathedral and rode to the end in either direction before disembarking back at the mid-way point. Pre-earthquake, the trolley run was 14 stops with an additional line 6 to 8 weeks away from completion. The current run is only 7 stops and they are hoping to have the additional line up and running by March 2014. It will likely be another three years before the full original line is able to be used.

After leaving the trolley, we headed over to the Re:Start Mall. This is a story of determination and recovery. As you can imagine, with 1,000 buildings in the downtown core torn down many small business owners lost their livelihoods. Many moved away or started up in a new location, but many were determined to continue in the downtown core. The Re:Start Mall is an area of shipping containers, which have been stacked and artistically designed as temporary retail operations. It is amazing what business can be done out of a small shipping container. Fortunately, the weather is more temperate than in Canada so it is a reasonable option. We stopped at a coffee shop for a light lunch and sat upstairs (a box on top of a box) in a very narrow space with windows and an outside deck.

Obviously, there are many stories to be told by the people who lived through three earthquakes in a small space of time. There is also much to be learned, especially for the folks from Christchurch who complain about the slow pace of recovery. In the midst of the Re:Start Mall is an expo which explains why the first earthquake in December 2010 was not nearly as deadly as the February 2011 quake, even though it was more powerful. If you don’t know the word liquefaction, I encourage you to look it up. Think about mud bubbling up from underground and the impact that might have on buildings, roads and infrastructure. Another new word we have learned is munted…the definition is not the one in the Urban Dictionary! We think it may have originated in England and means destroyed, uninhabitable. Some areas of Christchurch have been declared munted.

Since our flight wasn’t due to leave until 8:45pm and we couldn’t go back to the apartment, we went for a drive in the country out to a little town called Oxford. Yet again the travel brochures described it as an English-style town, well worth the visit. Well, maybe after five weeks we’re a bit jaded or maybe the writer of that brochure got munted (as in the Urban Dictionary) the night before. English-style it was not and it’s only redeeming feature was that it had a pharmacy where I was able to purchase a little travel pack of tissues.

We were back to the airport in lots of time to have a quiet dinner and then return the car. Problem was…there are no restaurants out near the airport. It really is in the middle of nowhere. Back into the city with the same problem as last night! Fortunately, I had remembered seeing a restaurant at the Super Centre that was advertised in the Where to Dine magazine. We had a unique meal…four different types of meat, served raw, on a hot stone grill. You cook your own meat right at the table. Interesting idea!

The end of a wonderful time in New Zealand. Stay tuned for one more post of miscellaneous bits that we have been collecting along the way. We’ll try to get that posted tomorrow before our noon flight.