Christchurch for Four Weeks

I always feel very lucky to have a job I really love and there have been many highlights, but the last four weeks have been amazing.  I got to work in Christchurch for four whole weeks and fly home for the weekends.

Luckily on one of the flights I got to sit in seat 1A.  It was so cool, I felt like I was part of the flight crew.

The cathedral is still broken and it’s been like that for so long it’s become very overgrown, but one night on the way home from work the evening sun was shining just at the right time and it looked quite stunning.

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I even made time to go to the art gallery and soak up some culture.

On my last weekend I made it to the Gondolas for a grand view of the city and harbour.

One particularly clear morning I even discovered the clouds on the horizon weren’t clouds after all – it was actually snow on the mountains.

The Crowne Plaza Hotel had only just opened and they had really good opening special prices making it affordable enough even for my work to pay for.  The room was amazing, I never wanted to leave.

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I don’t normally take photos of food I eat but the hotel food was truly spectacular, delicious and very well priced.  Look how beautifully the chocolate cake was presented.

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And the view was stunning.

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After work one night I walked up the road to investigate an amazing playground my nephew told me all about, apparently it’s one of the biggest in New Zealand.  It was very cool and I would’ve loved to play there if I was a kid.

Photo 24-08-17, 5 51 44 PMwAfter that on my way back to the hotel I found I funky street with old looking shops, bars and restaurants.  But most importantly I found a wine shop!

During a lunch break on a beautiful sunny day I went for a walk to take some pics of the cool buildings near where I was working.

Christchurch 2014

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to go to Christchurch for a whole week of work.  It’s still a major work in progress and at times a sad and depressing place to walk around, especially as it got cold and dark very quickly after work making it hard to take photos.

There were a couple of things I really hoped to photograph and I’m glad the rain held off just long enough to allow me to do that.  Firstly I wanted to see the “Cardboard Cathedral.  Didn’t look much like it was made out of cardboard to me, so I’m not sure why they’ve called it that, but it did look warm and inviting.
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The other thing I really wanted to see was the 185 Chairs Memorial, which i just don’t have the words to describe how I felt after seeing it.
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The original Cathedral sadly is still a powerful reminder of the terrible devastation the beautiful city went through.
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Everywhere you look there are plenty of reminders of the earthquake and I was really suprised how much work still has to be done.
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There were several happy highlights though and apart from having dinner with a friend who used to work with me in Auckland plus having a fun week of work with the Christchurch staff I also turned a corner and found Libby & Ben’s shop. I had no idea they had set up a shop in Christchurch. I don’t know them, but they were my fave contestants in the 2012 Block NZ TV show.
Libby & Ben's Shop