van wyk journeys
Clock tower 
Period building earthquake damaged 
Art gallery, I think that’s Donald Trump up there 
Art gallery 
Partially restored period building 
Under construction 
On the list to restore – long wait 
The Christchurch trolley 
Building supports 
New construction 
RE:Start Mall 
Lawn mower man art?? Druh Farrell art? 
Cat lady same Councillor 
Lululemon grows 
The Cone? 
Long wait for reconstruction
+22, light winds and sunshine
Christchurch is an interesting city as it is in transition after an earthquake on September 22nd, 2010. While reconstruction is ongoing and appears that it will for some time, many of the damaged structures have been removed and are either parking lots or transitional businesses. For example, there is a new “mall” called Re:Start that has opened up and is completely constructed of old shipping containers.
On every street, we turn we see a seriously damaged historic building or a complete absence of damaged buildings or buildings in general. I guess after 6 1/2 years this is to be expected. But it makes deciding to travel here for historical reasons more difficult, an unfortunate situation.
The new museum is new and is very close to being opened. All around we see new construction with the latest in earthquake prevention construction. For interest, I checked online for the earthquake activity in New Zealand and wow it is non stop. But we have not felt a thing and hopefully will not feel anything.
Oh, for the record the drive to Christchurch was better than expected as they reopened the #1 highway this morning which resulted in an interesting start to the drive but afterward, we were surprised that the roads were very straight and lacked the North Island super curves and elevation changes making the drive into Christchurch enjoyable. As a footnote the area around Christchurch is generally flat, yes I said flat, and the roads are no longer winding, a change from the North Island.