This weekend we had a rare gathering of the wider Begg family in Christchurch, including our Aucklanders, Wellingtonians, and Marion from Timaru. We stayed in a place beside Latimer Square which gave us a short walk into the city centre, and enjoyed a relaxed time revisiting the places we lived, our old university haunts, and catching up with everyone at Marilyn's country estate.
Christchurch is still heavily scarred by the aftermath of the 2011 earthquakes, with many wide open spaces where buildings used to be, but it is slowly coming back to life with many new buildings and public spaces.
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Inside the new city Library
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Work is just now starting on rebuilding the cathedral
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There is an abandoned, flooded building site in Armagh Street which has been chosen by a colony of the rare black-billed gull or "tarapuka" (see Stuff article) as their ideal nesting space. As they are protected they cannot be disturbed, so the owners must wait for them to leave of their own accord.
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The seagull colony in Armagh Street
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That doesn't look like a comfortable nesting spot!
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We made good use of the hop-on hop-off tram.
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We visited the Canterbury Earthwuake Memorial beside the Avon river.
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The "Little High" eatery proved a lively spot to have dinner.
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We had an expedition up onto the Port Hills, as the non-natives were curious to get a better idea of the layout of the city.
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Morning coffee at the Sign of the Takahe
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Surveying the panoramic views from the Sign of the Kiwi
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The full team (and Kieran's head)
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The cousins
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Another enjoyable dinner was at "Mexico Christchurch".
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The Cardboard Cathedral beside Cramner Square.
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On our last day we went through the tunnel to Lyttleton (coffee stop), then back over the pass to Sumner (lunch). We were surprised by the number of cyclists on the roads and tracks of the Port Hills. We also saw the popular gondola near the Sign of the Kiwi which is designed to ferry both people and their bikes back to the top. This gondola has been blamed for the spread of the disastrous fires which swept across the hill in 2017.
We enjoyed having the time to look around Christchurch again, managing to take in the house where I was born, various flats and houses we lived in, and the "red zone" now just a reserve with fruit trees.
