Firstly, I flew into Christchurch, which I imagine is completely different to when most people have visited it previously. The entire CBD (city centre) is inaccessible and closed off. A lot of other buildings are visibly being rebuilt or are held together with scaffolding. It is eerily quiet to wander around and yet also filled with the sounds of building work. It's evident that there is a lot to not only rebuild, but also be knocked down first. It was quite moving to see.
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| Red Zone is right in the city centre |
That's not to say it was without it's charm. There's a very pretty river that you can punt on and a really good museum. They had the exhibition that was on in London, 'Scott's Last Expedition'. I was very impressed by the food they brought with them, such as 450kg of Lyle's golden syrup, as well as a lot of Rudyard Kipling to read. They even put together a midwinter feast, with the menu written up on a cardboard penguin and after a good evening they were 'amiably argumentative'. It was also quite remarkable how much was being done in the face of the devastation from the earthquake; the art gallery was closed but they had a number of outside pieces around the city, they had some lovely markets and coffee shops that had relocated to stalls outside. It was surprisingly warm (warmer than Sydney at the time) so this was all rather nice. I stayed in the historical jail, which was a bit unusual and quite good fun. I wouldn't recommend walking though, I am very neatly packed so my back and shoulders didn't hurt, but I the chafing on my lower back from my rucksack is extremely painful and somewhat unsightly!
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| Slightly better than our diagrams of dolphins Phili? |
I was only in Christchurch for about 22 hours before flying norht to Auckland, via Wellington for just long enough to work out that it's quite windy in Wellington. I have not generally heard many positive things about Auckland but it's a nice enough city. The location between two seas and with volcanoes all around it make for sore calves walking around but is quite attractive. There are lots of glimpses of good views as you move around. The city itself is relatively small but nice enough. The art gallery isn't brilliant but they had a good exhibition celebrating photography of rock stars - some really quite amazing photos from the last six decades or so. Similarly, I was lucky enough to catch the New Zealand Geographic photos of both 2011 and 2012 being exhibited at the museum - really made me want to get started exploring the rest of the country. Lots of parks too, the musuem is in the middle of the Domain and is also a war memorial. It is well placed with views of hills, water and a busy port!
I've also been fortunate enough to visit New Zealand's TF. They are right at the end of their institute. There was actually someone else visiting from Malaysia who I'd met there, doing my tour of summer institutes... It is only just starting and has an exceptionally small cohort, but then there are only 600 secondary school teachers being trained in the whole country, so it's quite a different context to the UK. What was most striking is the way that Maori language and culture is very much part of the organisation; we saw some singing and lots of talking in Maori just as part of their group meeting at the end of the day. I couldn't tell you what it meant but it was interesting to see! I think this is quite telling of how Maori culture is essential in New Zealand, not just in this organisation.
A few more days in Auckland, although hoping to see some more of what's just outside the city itself, before more of the North Island.
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