CHRISTCHURCH TO TIMARU

Our blogging friends in NZ, Marja and William, took us sight seeing on the morning we were leaving them to continue down the East Coast of the South Island of NZ to Timaru.

 They showed us this beautiful pebble beach, where William goes fishing.

 They took us high up the hills overlooking Christchurch and the Canterbury Plain all the way to the Southern Alps.

 On the other side of the hill we could see Lyttleton Harbour.

 Then we drove around the edge of the harbour and through the villages.

 We visited the popular Sumner Beach, where only a few days before an earthquake had shaken more of the cliffs down into the sea.

We said goodbye to our new friends, who pointed us in the direction of Timaru and off we went.We found our accommodation, Glendeer Lodge.

It was a very comfortable B&B.

 There were deer in their garden.

 And sheep down the road. "Eyes Right"

 Views from near the lodge.

Next stop Oamaru.

THE GIANTS HOUSE, AKAROA, NEW ZEALAND

While we were in Akaroa we visited the "Giant's House," which  has a garden decorated with mosaic installations. The house was built in 1880 for the first bank manager in Akaroa. It took five years to build and it has an imported, mahogany staircase from France. It was named the Giants House after a small girl looked up at it from the valley below and said, "It is so big it must be a giant's house."

Later the house was bought and restored by artist Josie Martin.Trained as a horticulturalist and artist she combines her two passions throughout her home and garden. Her artworks hang on the many large walls in her house. While she was digging in the garden she found many shards of broken china from the original residents. She thought it too beautiful to throw away and she decided to make mosaic steps and pathways in her garden. This became her hobby for over twenty years. She has added many concrete and mosaic tiled sculptures.  

 The house also has a cafe and a B&B.

 Marja, (blogger friend) was our tour guide. Here she sits at the mosaic piano garden.

The house is perched high up on a hill overlooking Akaroa and the bay.

I enjoyed walking the many mosaic pathways through the garden.

 There were hundreds of different kind of mosaic sculptures and installations.

 Although I found them fascinating and appreciated the hours of work involved in making them, I wasn't sure that I really liked them. I felt some were bordering on kitsch.

I thought this one was interesting.

HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE

Some kind readers were concerned as I haven't blogged for a while. I hope to rectify that from now on. We went on a short holiday to New Zealand and then I was wanted in Melbourne to help out the family there. Now I am back to bore you with holiday photos.

We flew from Brisbane to Christchurch in the South Island of NZ, it only takes two and a half hours but then NZ is 3 hours ahead of Brisbane, so it seems to take nearly all day to get there. When we arrived at our hotel we decided to go for a walk and see how the city has changed from when we were there over ten years ago.

Christchurch suffered a devastating earthquake five years ago. Most buildings were damaged, one collapsed entirely, hundreds of houses were destroyed and roads broken. 185 people were killed. Today there are still buildings closed waiting to be repaired or pulled down and rebuilt but there are also many new buildings mushrooming up everywhere. There is a lot of employment for builders.

 The showpiece of Christchurch was the beautiful Christchurch Cathedral in Cathedral Square with its tall steeple and wonderful architecture but it has been damaged severely. There is controversy over whether it should be restored or demolished and a new one built.

 The front of the cathedral. There are still tremors occurring everyday. Sometimes more of the Cathedral collapses.The steeple has entirely gone.We felt two quite strong tremors in the three days we were there.

 The square shows off an interesting sculpture. It is Neil Dawson's steel 'Chalice' installed in 2001 to celebrate the new millennium and 150 years anniversary of Canterbury's foundation. The building in the background is still waiting to be fixed.

 However, Christchurch is not without a cathedral. With Japanese technology a Cardboard Cathedral has been built in another location. It is quite beautiful. Tubes of hardened cardboard provide the strength for the building.The roof is waterproof.

 The city has an amazing amount of Art in the streets. The people have been keen to try to make their city beautiful again. Most of the safety fences are adorned with bright patterns including Maori patterns. There are a variety of statues and installations. Many buildings have huge murals and it is probably a deterrent for the graffiti artists who seem to revel in tagging the damaged buildings.

I liked these murals. On the 22 February the people remembered the anniversary of the tragedy. One thing they do is put flowers in all the witches hats which are all over the city as many roads are still closed or being fixed.

The next day we took a train trip over the Southern Alps...........(next post)