Wednesday 12th April 2017
Still recovering a little I slept in until 8.30am, very unusual for me. We woke to a rainy day again, with lots of rain during the night. Pretty disappointing as we were thinking we might have gone for a drive today. Change of plan. Lucky our plans are always so loose.

We decided to head into the city and then maybe go to Antarctic World. We drove to the city centre and caught the city tour tram. The rain had stopped for a little while. We went past Cranmer Square, another park that had a memorial of crosses for Anzac Day, Cathedral Junction. We alighted at Cathedral Square as I wanted to see this after it’s destruction by the 2010 earthquake. It is still awaiting re-construction but there is currently court proceedings taking place to determine if it will be rebuilt, demolished or adapted. We saw the Chalice which is a contemporary monument which was a gift to the city in the millennium year. Throughout the city there are many murals on the buildings which have been commissioned to brighten the city when the art gallery closed and whilst it is being rebuilt. The whole city is pretty much a construction zone. The buildings cannot be rebuilt any more than 6 or 7 storeys. The library has started to be rebuilt but currently is only a couple of lift shafts and due for completion in 2018. Some of the shops in the city centre are in shipping containers but have been made to look quite funky. Lots of Wilson Parking stations have taken the place of the flattened buildings. The city is due for completion in 2019 according to one book, hard to believe as there are so many buildings in different stages of construction and some not started at all. We then went to the Canterbury Museum and spent a few hours in dryness. It featured a large section on Maori history, then smaller displays of Asian art, a Bird Hall, a Mummy, Dinosaur, geology, Ivan Mauger Speedway King, Antarctic, Paua Shell House, Air New Zealand. It was very interesting as there was a diverse range of exhibitions. We then walked back into the city to look at the temporary Cathedral which was constructed from cardboard. The local boys choir was there practising for the Easter festivities. Then to the 185 chair memorial. It was a corner block which had 185 empty chairs. A temporary art installation reflecting on the loss of lives, livelihood and living in our city following the earthquake of 22 February 2011.

Unfortunately we ran out of time for the Antarctic Centre.