Day 19 16.3.23 Christchurch

Busy day today. Walked into the city centre, less than 10 mins, for breakfast at the Tram Car Cafe. We then jumped on to a tram which did a guided tour of the city, over 50 mins. The tickets are for all day and you can get on and off at any of the 17 stops as often as you like.

Hope you've got a cuppa as there's going to be lots of photos again. 

Big hole in the ground where a building once stood. New regulations state no higher than 5 floors now.

Avon River 

Paradise ducks

Lots of buildings are still in need of repair from the earthquakes in 2010 & 2011. Where some buildings stood are now just carparks.

New Convention centre called Te Pae.

Because of its size it was very hard to photograph so I've used some images from their website. 

Back on the tram and off to the botanical gardens area. So much to see and do here.

Avon River 

Canadian geese, considered a pest in NZ.

Art? Wrestlers by Llewellyn Summer. 

Museum entrance. Decided not to go in as it was $20 each and we want to go to the Quake museum tomorrow. 

Ernest Lord Rutherford museum was free. 

The museum was about electricity,  ions and atoms and over my head.

We had a go at creating computer generated energy from different forms. 

Mark S got solar power and had to move his arms up and down like he was climbing. This about 20 seconds. 

Andrea got wind and had to flap her arms like a bird. This took about 15 seconds to complete.

I got geothermal and had to run on the spot. This took about 1min 20 to complete and lucky me it was also the hardest. The video has been edited to remove a couple of expletives in the background. 

Mark P had to sway like a blade of grass and was over before I could even get a picture. 

The great hall

Next we went to the art gallery 

Went punting on the Avon River. 

Photo courtesy of Mark. 

These 3 photos courtesy of Andrea.

Back on the tram to find a quiet spot for a cider.

Walked back through Victoria square. Apparently during the earthquakes some of the male statues lost their heads but not Queen Victoria. 

Today the weather has been perfect, 14-25° and I've walked 9kms.

The people of this town describe things that were destroyed in the earthquakes as being 'munted'.