November 21: Christchurch Sightseeing

We spent most of the day sightseeing and wandering around the central city area of Christchurch. We took a tram tour of Christchurch’s Botanic Gardens in Hagley Park (larger than Hyde Park in London), a trolley tour of the entire central city area from Cathedral Square to the Christchurch Art Gallery to the Bridge of Remembrance and Triumphal Arch. We also spent time at Quake City, an exhibition showcasing the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes and their aftermath. (I misspoke in an earlier post when I said that it was the 2016 Kaikura earthquake that had devastated Christchurch.)
 
The principal earthquake occurred on September 4, 2010 measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale with the epicenter in Darfield, @ 25 miles away. A number of aftershocks occurred in the following months, the most devastating occurring on February 22, 2011. This one measured 6.2 on the Richter scale, but the epicenter was only 4 miles from Christchurch’s central city. It wreaked death and destruction on this lovely city. Almost fourteen years later the city still has not yet fully recovered. 

The Peacock Fountain at the
Botanic Gardens entrance

Smelling the roses at the
Botanic Gardens

Christchurch Transitional (Cardboard)
Cathedral still being rebuilt

Bridge of Remembrance over the Avon River


The Memorial Arch - both this arch and the Bridge of
Remembrance were built in memory of those soldiers
who crossed the river here on their way to the WWI
battlefields in Europe
















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