My accommodation in Christchurch turned out to be a converted jail, and they
took the whole idea to its logical conclusion (striped duvet covers and
calling the guests "inmates"). And to be fair, it still looked very much like
a jail (minus the fairy lights). Met quite a few nice people there, including
Jackson (a Canadian prison officer I came second-last in a pub quiz with) and
a German couple who had just bought a tiny campervan with room for a single
bed and who turned out not to be a couple but brother and sister (no comment).
|
|
I didn't even have to "slop out" while I was there
|
Christchurch suffered two serious earthquakes only 12-13 years ago, and people
leaving the area caused the city to move from second to third in the list of
most populated cities in New Zealand. Some 100,000 buildings were damaged, and
the building work around the city continues to this day.
One building that doesn't appear to have suffered much lasting damage was
Riccarton House, which was built by the Deans family who emigrated from
Kilmarnock back in the 19th century.
|
|
Riccarton House
|
After getting dragged round dozens of such houses when I was a kid, I had low
expectations that this would be any good. Turns out it was really good - not
so much for the house, but for this chap who had thousands of stories and was a very affable fellow.
|
|
He probably came with the house
|
In the gardens of the house, there was also the last native bush that hadn't
been chopped down by the 19th century settlers. It wasn't very big - you could
walk round it in 10 minutes. But like many areas in New Zealand, it was
completely surrounded by a fence to prevent any unwanted rodents entering
(part of New Zealand's drive to go pest-free by 2050). The entrance even has
two gates which couldn't both be open at the same time.
|
|
Reminds me of my accommodation
|
Another excellent attraction in Christchurch is the International Antarctic
Centre near the airport - one very reasonable bus journey away (all local bus
journeys are half-price here until just before I leave - not sure why). It's
got several key attractions including the smallest breed of penguin, the blue
penguin (turns out they're all over the place in the South Island but I was
still pleased to see them) ...
|
|
I'd call it the grey penguin myself
|
Some very cute and docile huskies ...
|
How these guys made it to the South Pole I'll never know
|
... and a big "snow room" (definitely not what it was really called) where every hour,
a siren would go off, and a simulation of an Antarctic storm would start
(basically lots of fans blowing very cold air about).
|
|
Real snow and snowmobile!
|
There was also quite a good 4d film (basically like a 3d film but they blast
you with air and spray you with water), as well as an excellent VR experience
which recreated
Shackleton's Antarctic voyage
(or rather the lengths they had to go to to get rescued once they were
stranded in Antarctica). It was a bit hard to get photos of it, but I did grab
a picture of everyone looking rather silly in their VR headsets.
I left the best attraction till last though. A trip on a Hägglund, the
all-terrain vehicles they use to get about the Antarctic. I got a seat at the
front, and sadly while not being allowed to drive, he did take us round a wee
"assault course" to demonstrate its capabilities.
Before I left Christchurch, there was just time for another parkrun - one of the largest
I've run with 582 participants in the huge Ragley Park. I didn't get a great
time, but that's because I arrived late and had to answer the call of nature
half-way round, but normal service will be resumed next week in Wanaka!
Before there though, I need to go to the most Scottish city outside Scotland,
Dunedin.
Comments