Day Fifteen - Christchurch

It was very windy in Christchurch this morning but we braved it and went to see the transitional cathedral.

It is made of cardboard and was constructed to replace the old bluestone one that was damaged in the 2011 earthquake. I'm a little ashamed to say I didn't quite realise the level of damage caused by the 2011 quake. Most of the Christchurch CBD is a construction zone and whole blocks of buildings stand empty and condemned.

We also visited the white chair memorial. 185 empty chairs represent the people who lost their lives in the earthquake. The chairs are all different to represent the different people, it's quite eerie and really hits home when you get up close and see chairs for little kids and even a baby capsule.

After that we visited the Re:Start Mall, which is a whole shopping mall constructed from shipping containers. It's funky and modern and a real testament to the Kiwi spirit which embraces change and gets on with things.

Next we headed to the Canterbury Museum and spent a couple of hours checking out various exhibits and artefacts including moa skeletons, models of Da Vinci's machines, costumes dating back to the 1700's, plesiosaur fossils and a mummy.

Then it was time to head out to the airport, check into our motel and say goodbye to Shadowfax. Even though he had a dodgy clutch he served us well.

All up we did 2,922 kilometres. A pretty fair effort when you consider the entire country from Bluff to the Bay of Islands is only 1,600 kilometres long. Guess that's what happens when you drive up every random back road you can find.

Now all that's left to do is condense two weeks of road-tripping back into two suitcases and catch our flight in the morning.

Big Sis

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