October 29, Monday

October 29, Monday

Today I’ve decided to venture out and try to explore Christchurch.  My back is still a little painful, but only two jabbing pains this morning.  By 11:30 I’m finally ready to go.  The manager has explained the walking route using one of the tourist maps.  I can take a diagonal route to the downtown core by following the Avon River, which passes just south of the motel.  He indicated that it is about a half hour walk.  Now I usually walk at a fairly fast clip, but NOT today.  It took me 1 hour to get to the museum on the other side of the downtown core, about 2.5 kms. 

 The Avon River is quite narrow and shallow; it meanders across Christchurch's downtown core

Wreckage from New York's Twin Towers and the 9/11 disaster.  It is part of a memorial to the heroism of firefighters around the world.

The city has used some of its smaller parks to store parts of historical buildings that were damaged during the earthquakes.  These parks are fenced off to protect the building parts.

Christchurch suffered two major earthquakes in the last few years. Aftershocks continue to occur on a regular basis. Some buildings they thought could be salvaged have been worsened by aftershocks and must now be torn down.

“The magnitude 6.3 (M_L) earthquake struck the Canterbury region in New Zealand's South Island at 12:51 pm on Tuesday, 22 February 2011. (It followed nearly six months after the magnitude 7.1 Canterbury earthquake of 4 September 2010, which caused significant damage to Christchurch and the central Canterbury region.) The earthquake caused widespread damage across Christchurch, especially in the central city and eastern suburbs, with damage exacerbated by buildings and infrastructure already being weakened by the 4 September 2010 earthquake and its aftershocks. Significant liquefaction affected the eastern suburbs, producing around 400,000 tons of silt. In total, 185 people were killed in the earthquake, making it the second-deadliest natural disaster recorded in New Zealand. Over half of the deaths occurred in the six-storey Canterbury Television (CTV) Building, which collapsed and caught fire in the quake. The government declared a state of national emergency, which stayed in force until 30 April 2011. The total cost to insurers of rebuilding has been estimated at NZ$20–30 billion. The earthquake was the most damaging in a year-long earthquake swarm affecting the Christchurch area. It was followed by a large aftershock on 13 June (which caused considerable additional damage) and a series of large shocks on 23 December 2011. Early reports suggested that it occurred on a previously unknown fault line.”
Oh, by the way, there was another tremor here last week! 4.3 on the Richter Scale. They also did their first “implosion” to take down a highrise building recently.

I'm nearing the downtown core and am starting to see buildings that have been blocked off (white cement wall around the base).  This building looks OK, but obviously it has not yet been reopened.

Christchurch was designed by the same person who designed Adelaide, therefore the city is layed out in a grid, but has the Avon River meandering through it. Bealey Avenue (where the motel is located at the east end) is the north boundary road to downtown, Fitzgerald to the east, the Hagley Park to the west and Moorhouse Avenue to the south. Just one long block south of the motel is the Avon River, so I walked there and followed the footpaths along the river, cutting a diagonal wavy line toward the south west corner of downtown. I made it down to Manchester and Kilmore, only to find that I had reached a “No go” zone of the city.

 Corner of Manchester and Kilmore Streets:  No go zone.   All that is left of this entire block is rubble.

 From the bridge across Durham Street I can see the dome, from another damaged building, which has been stored for safety.  Can you imagine trying to move that thing?

Most of the sidewalks were in good condition, but this one, just on the edge of the bridge, has not yet been fixed.

Prayer Labyrinth (Ancient path of wisdom, healing and peace) on the site of what used to be St. Luke’s church

 Many city blocks have already been leveled out.  Whatever building used to be here has already been demolished and the rubble taken away.
I had to detour back up 3 blocks and then go west for a few more blocks before coming back south. 

 Had to take a picture of this building, it occupies an entire city block.  No sign anywhere, but if I had to guess I would say "Casino" or "Nightclub"!
As I made my way towards the Canterbury Museum, beside the Botanic Gardens and the tourist information office, I spotted the double decker tourist bus parked in front of a boy’s academy. I found out that it was leaving for a 3 hour city tour at 2 pm. It was only 1 pm but I decided I had walked enough for the day, so I purchased a ticket, climbed up to the open top second level and sat in the sun to wait for the tour to begin.

Boy's Academy has a huge campus and many historical buildings.  This one appears to be undamaged, but I could see scaffolding inside this tourette.

The bus went through the downtown area for about 1 hour, and I got to see a lot of the destroyed buildings, as well as some that looked perfectly fine but still had to be demolished.

So many buildings have been taken down since the earthquakes and so many more are slated for “deconstruction”. The earthquake that hit Christchurch, rather than being a sideways motion was a vertical one. People were literally tossed into the air. Although newer buildings had been designed to withstand earthquakes, this one was completely off the charts. “The peak ground acceleration(PGA) is one of the greatest ever ground accelerations recorded in the world.” “One thousand of the 4000 buildings within the Four Avenues were expected to be demolished. Of 220 buildings more than five stories tall, 110 are being, or have been, demolished at May 2012.” “An estimated 10,000 houses requiring demolition and over 100,000 damaged.”

 
 Christhchuch has so many historical buildings, and luckily they seem to have survived fairly well.  Many of the new buildings have not!

 The clock in this tower stopped when the earthquake hit.  It has not been started again, as a memorial.

Typical downtown street in the main core of Christchurch.  Streets are fenced off: some buildings are being demolished, some are being repared.

Bridge of Remembrance,  War Memorial

 This hotel was too badly damaged and is being demolished. 

These containers are being used to shore up a historical store front.  They are hoping to incorporate it into the new building.

 This one will be saved.

 This is what is left of the front of the Cathelic Cathedral.
The guide told us a story (which I also heard from others, so it may be true).  Do you see the two angels at the top of what used to be the steeple?  There was a statue of the Virgin Mary in the niche below them.  During the earthquake, the statue turned completely around during the quake, "volte face", but was undamaged.  Beleivers have seen it as a sign that she protected the church from total distruction. 

 This is a side view; which looks as if it can probably be saved.  Again, containers are being used to shore up the damaged walls.

Entire blocks have been wiped away.

This is the white building in the previous shot. It is still standing and it looks like they are doing some cosmetic repairs; still, I don’t think I would like to be working or living in there after it is restored.

Merchants on this street have decided to get together and save their homes and shops.

Looks like the Isaac Theatre Royal will be saved.

 I had tears in my eyes when we stopped on this corner.  So much destruction.

 and yet at other places, you can hardly tell that anything bad has happened.

“A river runs through it”, the Avon. The course of the river has changed over the years to make way for development and many people partially blame this for some of the liquefaction sites.

This is the Art Gallery, a relatively new building in the downtown core, with glass for outer walls, and it was no damaged.  Simply amazing.

This church which was built of wooden arches has survived, but not its stained glass windows and doors.

If they cannot rebuild, maybe they can dismantle and use the wooden struts elsewhere.

 Hagley Park

It is a huge park and is free for everyone to use

 Our tour ends back at the Canterbury Museum, beside the Botanic Gardens

1960’s London Double Decker buses

At the end of the first hour we returned to the start off point to switch buses, to a closed top double decker.The next two hours would take us around the outskirts of Christchurch.  We got a new driver, but kept the same guide.  Although the first bus had many tourists, the second one only had me and a couple from England.  Private tour!

 Our first stop was to take a stroll through Mona Vale gardens; a private residential area.

 
 Quite beautiful and it even has a cement pond filled with water lillies.

We drove up Port Hills for a view of the city. The road to get up there was really bumpy, a result of the shifting earth. Many of the house roofs we saw need to be replaced.

 Driving up Port Hills

 Houses have also suffered a lot of damage, and insurance comapnies have been slow to pay out since they needed to assess if the houses were salvagable or not and if the land below it was stable enough.

 This house looks like it sank, but it has simply been built into the hill side.

Some roofs are more damaged than others.

 The views from the top of Summit Hill & Victoria Park

You can see how large Christchurch and the surrounding communities is.

We then drove out to the seaside village of Sumner, where one of the epicentres was located. Lots of cliff top houses are now precariously perched and the houses have been deemed too dangerous to occupy, even though many sustained no damage.

 Some of the houses are built on hills

 Others on cliffs were not so lucky

 Some of the houses on the cliffs were not damaged, but if the cliffs are deemed to be unsafe, the home owners are not allowed to return to their homes and the houses will have to be demolished.  Heart breaking.

 Sumner is a lovely village

 with a beautiful beach area

 The causeway leading to the beach was also really bumpy.All these roads will need to be rebuilt.

We returned to the city and got dropped off in front of the Art Gallery.  I decided to walk back to the motel, using a different route. I walked on one of the only streets that was open to traffic and which passed through the "closed off" area, from west to east near the downtown core. 

I was told that the undamaged tower has to come down.  It was built on land that can liquify.

 I walked by the Christchurch Cathedral, which was severely damaged.  Very controversial since the Bishop wants the building demolished but the parishioners want it saved.  Will have to wait and see who finally wins...  and whether the building is salvagable or not.

Christchurch Cathedral:  Statue in front of the Cathedral seems to attest to the resilience of the people of Christchurch.  “We will survive, we will triumph!”

Good day considering my back is really hurting from that rough bus ride.