Christchurch - Part Deux

The drive from Kaikoura to CC was rather uneventful beyond the fantastic scenery. After crossing a few hills you drop down onto the Canterbury Plains. It started with rolling hills covered with sheep then turned pan flat. Wineries were scattered throughout as well and unbelievable as it may sound, we didn’t stop at any. Entering CC is like that of any large city – traffic increases, houses, industry, etc. We encountered the only other motorway outside of Auckland – about a 5km stretch of separate highway, 2 lanes each. Sweet as. We proceeded directly to our luxury accommodation – turned out to be a very small room in which the queen bed took up almost all the free space. Eh, what can you do, reasonable and close to city centre. Nice to know you still have the boy racers here – we were on a main road and they started up around 9:30pm.

So, Christchurch, what can I say? It is the 2nd largest city in NZ. Granted we were only in town for 2 days, and our first day was gray and cool, but Angela and I both agree that the city isn’t overly appealing. It has its nice parts – Arts Centre, Cathedral Square, and Hagley Park to name them. I was amazed at the flatness of the area - a few hills out east but nothing that dominates the city. We’ve been told that the pollution is horrible here during the winter because of where the city is situated. I assumed this meant in a valley but that’s not it. Maybe those little hills hold it all in – who knows, I won’t hang around to find out. We’ve spoken with many here who share our sentiment – several Americans looking to find a place to settle down agreed that they were not impressed with CC at all. Driving down Blenheim road, for instance, you’d think you were in Denver headed down Wadsworth or Federal. Large furniture stores, food processing plants, car dealerships, strip malls, etc. The streets were congested and it was stop and go between lights. [Angela here: yeah, couldn't agree more. But astonishingly before we came out here we communicated via email and listserv with many Americans who wanted to make ChCh their home. I mean, why even bother leaving the states, really??? It was sprawl and congestion and cars without any highways a la Littleton and Highlands ranch.]

Well we started our day with a Starbucks in the square then headed to the Arts Centre. CC also has an old tram that chauffeurs tourist around a city central loop. It’s funny, but the parts of the route that we encountered seemed to be a bit staged for the tourists. The Arts Centre was nice; it’s housed in several buildings that were originally built for the University of Canterbury. It’s got the historical Euro feel to it. Lunch at the Dux de Lux where I had some great fish patties and Angela went for the quesadilla (not quite what she was expecting). [Angela here: I gambled, I lost. SEE Mom and Dad, THIS is why I hate Las Vegas and gambling.]

We did take a long walk after lunch and uncovered a casino and 2 burrito places – one that we went in looked just like Chipotle, too bad we had just eaten, maybe next time. [Speaking of gambling, I guess both my parents will want to visit ChCh now.]

City Tram.








Arts Centre








Ducks shopping











Punting.








Angela's heaven

[One thing I'll add here that I really, really noticed. People jaywalk across all city streets all the time and run yellow and red lights in their cars here, just like any city. I wasn't cognizant until now that living in Nelson, people just don't do that. If the light is yellow, you stop the car. Period. Even if there are no cars coming, people will not, absolutely, jay walk across the smallest of streets. We all wait for the appropriate lights to go off and the hearing-impaired noises to tell us when to cross the streets. There are lots of crosswalks in the city centre built for people to have the right of way. And wouldn't you believe it, the cars actually stop, all the time. Small town life is definitely different.]