Day 7: The Mini Tour of Christchurch

Our first day in New Zealand was spent exploring the city of Christchurch. We arrived bright and early after our "red eye" so we checked into our hostel (a historical jailhouse) then grabbed brunch as our rooms weren't ready yet. A delicious brunch it was, very American like, and therefore hearty and filled out bellies!

Then it was into the city to explore the downtown area. Much of the city is still recovering from the earthquake in 2011 so at times it was a dreary site, but also inspiring. I especially liked the shipping container mall--pretty cool idea for how to take things and repurpose them in a way that others might not think of.

We also visited the Cantebury Museum which had a lot about New Zealand culture. Alas, we were getting quite exhausted due to the lack of sleep so I didn't retain much. It was also a bit of a museum for everything, it had art, natural history, this weird house with millions of shells on the walls. All in all, cool but a littler overwhelming at times.

Our last bit of adventure for the day was to take advantage of our rental care and go see Taylor's Mistake. So called because a captain ran his boat ashore thinking it was a strait. Whoops. We then sampled some New Zealand beer and pizza on our way back to Christchurch proper. all in all, a satisfying first day in New Zealand--and the perfect one to help us rest up for the rest of New Zealand.

This is what legroom looked like on JetStar... it was kind of nonexistent. My delicious huevos rancheros from breakfast. And I made fast friends with the little barrier sheep. Our first glimpse of sheep in NZ!

Old Christchurch Cathedral--badly damaged from the earthquake but still it stands. A cardboard cathedral was put up (very good at using recycled goods in Christchurch) to act as the new cathedral until they could repair this one. And a topiary, memorial house for the building.

Some things that were by the Cathedra, not 100% sure of the significance.

Brooke and I kept playing with the concrete sheep. And an archway over the bridge--this too is all that remains of the arch after the earthquake.

The Re:Start Shipping Container Mall. As you can see, they had tons sculptures as well.

The Cantebury Museum aka the museum with a little bit of everything. Like this house full of shells. Matt was confused.

And some recycled metal art.

They had dinosaurs! 

Pictures of Taylor's Mistake.

Delicious pizza! and some yummy beer as well. New Zealand is all right.