We waved goodbye to Kaikoura as we headed south toward the South Island’s largest town, Christchurch. As we drove through the beautiful countryside, Linda told us about the 2010/11 earthquakes which – you guessed it – devastated the city. I’ve been to Christchurch twice since then, the first time in 2018. That time, I was…
I wrote this post before we heard about what happened in Christchurch, New Zealand, yesterday. People were murdered while worshiping at mosques.Once again, it was a white supremacist male picking a soft target to vent his hatred. Gunning people down at any place of worship is particularly gutless and ugly, every bit as gutless and…
After a leisurely breakfast at the same cafe as yesterday we went to the Christchurch Botanic Gardens, a large park with the Avon River running through it. It’s Autumn in Christchurch and in this cooler climate the deciduous trees are a riot of colour. We also went into an exhibition of whimsical dance costumes, all…
Sunday morning dawned blustery, with scudding clouds interspersed with sunshine. My friend and I found Procope, a lovely little coffee shop, open on a Sunday morning for a welcome coffee and an excellent bite to eat, then we walked into Christchurch’s CBD. Every street had empty blocks, traffic cones, detours, wire fencing, cranes, and construction…
I was off on my own (ie without Pete) for a short adventure with my oldest friend, B. She and I go back fifty years, when we first met at high school. We became firm friends at university and shared many a scrape and mistake and wonderful times back in Perth, where I grew up….