A City Rebuilding - Christchurch; Part 1

Catch-up

We've visited Christchurch numerous times since we've been on the road, staying at the NZMCA Park at Weedons which is about 20kms from the central city. We've driven through and around the city many times, along broken roads dodging oodles of orange cones, past crumbled buildings and vacant lots, down deserted overgrown suburban streets, and as the city slowly rebuilds, visited the many new shopping centres and commercial buildings in the suburbs. But I've never taken a dedicated walk through Christchurch's devastated central city. 

Until this recent visit, I always felt like I would be intruding, being ghoulish in visiting the scene of so much heartache. But now, over five years on from the devastating February 22nd, 2011, Christchurch Earthquake, it was time to take that walk and explore a city rebuilding. 

Of course the first stop had to be at one of the most recognisable symbols of the earthquake, the remains of the iconic Christchurch Cathedral in Cathedral Square. Once the heart and soul of the city, the Cathedral and the Square are shadows of their former selves. (Remember to click on the photos to enlarge)

The support structure at the front of the church was put in place after the earthquake to protect the magnificent stained-glass 'Rose Window'. Unfortunately it acted like a battering ram in the June 2011 earthquake which was then followed by a more powerful aftershock. The Cathedral is one of the many buildings in the city that are in limbo; awaiting insurance &/or court outcomes as various groups fight for the right to rebuild, or demolish and move on.  

I decided to take a tour on the tram first, to get an overall picture of the city and, more importantly, try to get my bearings. I was having a little trouble recognising many of the remaining buildings.

We once had a factory (rotational moulding water tanks) in Riccarton which we visited two or three times a year, often staying in the central city at the Heritage Hotel.  I was happy to see that the Old Government Building where the Heritage is located, was up and running again after having its quake damage repaired. Unfortunately the Heritage's main tower building which was beside the OGB didn't survive the quake. 

I was lucky enough to share my tram ride with a very well-known and much loved Christchurch character; the Wizard, a real, live, walking, talking tourist attraction...

...whose familiar doubled ended Volkswagen, I found parked in its official council carpark...

...at the top end of New Regent Street with its Spanish Mission revival style. New Regent Street was the only remaining heritage streetscape left in Christchurch after the February quake. Owners & tenants worked together to restore the buildings which have a Historic Place Category 1 Status.

I was a little sad to see how much progress had been made on "The Piano- Centre for Music & Arts" building, in the new performing arts precinct, and beside New Regent Street. Purely selfish reasons of course...

The Piano has covered up a beautiful piece of street art; 'The Ballerina', by my favourite street artist OD (Owen Dippie) who has in the past painted many beautiful murals around Tauranga & the Mount (his home town). I was lucky enough to shoot the ballerina just as work started on the Centre for Music & Arts last June. It's the only subject I have photographed inside the central city, because, as is the norm with street art, I knew it would be gone before long. You can see more of OD's work on one of my earlier blog posts by clicking this link.

Take a bow Christchurch

I did a circuit on the tram but didn't use the hop-on, hop-off option at any of the 17 stops, I decided it would be easier to walk some of the circuit afterwards taking photographs- through glass and around people moving about is just about impossible. I got off at New Regent Street...

...and followed the tram through Cathedral Junction...

...out the otherside and back around Cathedral Square...

...past the Cathedral once again, where there was still a steady stream of visitors viewing and photographing the ruins...

Past a couple of soapbox preachers and the local 'boys' playing chess...

...up over the Avon and along Worcester Street, past the shored-up 'Our City- O Tautahi', a Grade 1 historic building awaiting restoration. Originally the first council chambers, the Queen Anne style building was built in 1887. That's the old Rydges Hotel in the background, awaiting repair after a long standing insurance dispute.

A little further on down Worcester Street is the Christchurch Art Gallery- Te Puna O Waiwhetu with Martin Creed's 46 metre neon artwork and very poignant message "Everything is Going to be Alright" blazoned along one side of the building (it lights up brightly at night). 

This magnificent building came through the quake virtually unscathed (the concourse had to have it's floor re-leveled ) but was only re-opened to the public last December, nearly five years after the event. It was used by Civil Defence, SARs and the NZ Defence Force and became the co-ordination centre for the official quake response. 

The building's intact & distinctive glass facade was beamed around the world as media gathered on the forecourt for press conferences and live updates.

The large 1.7 tonne 'bronze bull atop a grand piano' once stood for 30 days as an art installation on an empty site in Madras Street. It became a symbol of hope in an earthquake-ravaged city and was eventually purchased for the gallery through a public fundraising campaign.

I wanted to check out a recent addition to the art gallery's 'Outer Spaces' art works- the rather creepy 'Quasi'  hand and face sculpture by Ronnie van Hout (and yes, it's named after the quasimodo character from 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame'). The 5m tall giant hand with a slightly grim face peers down on the city from a rooftop corner- you can see it on the far left in the photo two above.

I left the art gallery behind (I'll visit inside another day) and headed back up Worcester Street, back over the Avon and turned right down Oxford Terrace past the old Public Trust Office; another building battling for its life within the courts.

And past buildings that are just beginning their life. Oxford Terrace's The Strip will once again be the hub for the city's hospitality, with two levels of bars, restaurants and outside courtyards looking out over the Avon. 

Here's an artist's impression of what it'll look like once completed; a far cry from the original and sometimes infamous Strip, with it's tightly packed restaurants, bars and nightclubs in and amongst the many historic old buildings which mostly collapsed in the quake or were demolished soon afterwards. 

And looking back down Oxford Terrace...

The terraced seating beside the Avon River would be a lovely place to rest and watch the world go by....although, as my mother used to say, 'sitting on concrete will give you piles'. I think they need cedar wooden slats to make it more comfortable. I have a sneaky suspicion the ducks think it's rather nice too.

I carry on until I reach the Bridge of Remembrance which had been off-limits since the quake while a three-year strengthening and repair project was completed. It reopened on ANZAC day this year.

Across from The Bridge of Remembrance is the Cashel Street Mall, and like the buildings of Oxford Terrace, many of the malls's historic buildings collapsed during or were demolished after the quake. It's here on the corner of Oxford & Cashel that I feel a little melancholy and a sad sense of loss for the city, it's hard to reconcile this part of the old city with the city I see in front of me today. 

To be continued.... Part 2

OD- My Favourite Street Artist

While at the Mount I took the chance of shooting a few more of my favourite street artist’s work. OD aka Owen Dippie is a world renowned street artist who I have been following for a few years now. Owen grew up in Mt Maunganui but sadly for the Mount & Tauranga he has recently moved to Auckland which means there won’t be any more random murals appearing around the city’s industrial areas.

These first two are quite visible on the rear of industrial buildings along the main route into Mt Maunganui (they're not from the series)

The Incredible Hulk- which was part of OD's super hero series.

The critically endangered Maui’s Dolphin-

OD will continue to paint, as funds and time allow, commissioned works for the Tauranga City Council’s  ‘Larger than Life’ series. This is one of the five painted so far, it’s hoped that there’ll be 15 works of art eventually placed around the inner city of Tauranga.

From the famous Michelangelo sculpture, The Pieta-

Here is the fifth in the series and last for the time being. We have visited this building many times- our lawyer’s offices were once here!

The ‘Goddess of Love' as seen in Botticelli's 1486 painting ‘The Birth of Venus’-

You must admit this is quite an impressive sight- especially if you wake up and throw open the curtains in the hotel room across the carpark. At 27 metres high and covering six storeys, it’s one of OD biggest works. Although not as large, and in my opinion as wonderful, as my favourite piece of all; The Ballerina, painted on the rear of the Isaac Theatre Royal in Christchurch.

Owen was also commissioned by Tauranga Boys College to paint a series of mural portraits featuring a range of Kiwi heroes that depict the college’s house leaders. It was just as well it was school holidays when I stopped by to check them out.

Sir Apirana Ngata- a Ngati Porou leader and politician, Apirana Ngata is one of New Zealand's best-known figures. As MP for Eastern Maori, he worked to strengthen Maori communities and revive Maori culture.

Moana Nui a Kiwa Ngarimu- a New Zealand soldier and posthumous recipient in 1943 of the Victoria Cross. He was also the first Maori to receive this honour.

Sir Edmund Hillary- a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

Sir Bernard Freyberg- a British-born soldier and Victoria Cross recipient, who later served as the seventh Governor-General of New Zealand from 1946 to 1952.

Sir Ernest Rutherford- a New Zealand-born British physicist who became known as the father of nuclear physics.

Sir Murray Halberg- a former New Zealand middle distance runner who won the gold medal in the 5000 metres event at the 1960 Olympics.

Tauranga Boys College is one of the largest boy's colleges in New Zealand with a roll of over 1,870 pupils. What great role models these famous and outstanding men are for future generations of boys.

You can see more of Owen’s works in this blog post- Girl with a Pearl Earring, which I did a couple of years ago just before we left Tauranga for our life on the road.

Take A Bow Christchurch

I know you’ll find this hard to believe but I put my camera down for 10 days while we were parked up at the NZMCA Park in Weedons, on the outskirt of Christchurch city. This will be the one and only post from our time in Christchurch.

Well, I almost put it down. I had one photo shoot I wanted to do while we were there; take a photo of the beautiful ballerina on the back of the historic Isaac Theatre Royal, located in the centre of the earthquake devastated central city.

And the reason? Those that have been following my blog since the beginning will know of my love for a Tauranga street artist’s work. OD (aka Owen Dippie) is an amazing artist who has painted many works of art on industrial and business building walls around Mt Maunganui & Tauranga, along with New York, Melbourne & Auckland.

And this is another of his paintings, Owen was commissioned to paint the ballerina as part of Christchurch’s inaugural street art festival, his mural was painted as the ‘grand finale’ to the festival and has quickly turned into a loved and iconic piece of art.

I’m not too sure how long it will be on view as there is ground work happening on the cleared section in front of the mural. Eventually, I’m sure, a multi storied building will grow from this empty space. But as OD once said to me, when I lamented about one of his controversial pieces of art being painted over, “That’s the nature of street art, here one moment, gone the next”.

Here's my previous blog showing a number of OD's paintings- Girl With A Pearl Earring

We spent most of our time in Christchurch preparing the van and ourselves for winter; sending one of the diesel heaters away for repairs, changing the bedding from summer to winter, packing away summer clothing, airing out our winter clothes (and deciding we needed more) and sending away any unused gear to our storage shed back in Tauranga. Generally having a good spring clean albeit at the wrong time of the year.

We did spend quite a bit of time getting frustrated driving on the roads; we both commented on how busy the city was and how long it took to drive anywhere. The roads are very crowded and there are still a lot of road works, even on the outskirts, along with a lot of rebuilding and new buildings taking shape everywhere. Christchurch is certainly the city of traffic cones; over 100,000 apparently.

It wasn’t long before we were both keen to hit the road again and leave the city chaos behind; so keen in fact, we left 3 days before we had originally planned.

Mount Mixture

I hope I haven’t kept my regulars waiting too long for this post but as you can imagine it’s been a very busy time catching up with family & friends and seeing to all the various appointments we had arranged before we arrived in town. The time has flown by and we only have one more week here at the Mount before we head off to Napier & family for Christmas.

I’ve really enjoyed being back on the front row beside the boardwalk at the Mount campground. There’s always something interesting happening or someone interesting walking by. Mind you, I think we’re leaving at the right time, the campground is starting to pick up pace, the sites down here on the ocean side are nearly always full and there is a definite increase in the numbers of walkers passing by on the boardwalk. This is probably because there has been a cruise ship in port just about every day for the last week. When out on my walk, I’ve even taken to politely telling approaching walkers to “keep left, keep left, just like you’re driving” and looking silly by demonstrating steering a car in case they don’t understand English!

We have had some brilliant weather, hot and sunny days with very humid nights- which isn’t so pleasant.

There’s been a few overcast days with scattered showers, luckily most of the rain has fallen overnight. A good number of school groups have been spending time either in school camps at the Mount campground or visiting by bus. I felt sorry for this group; they disappeared up the stairway to the Base Track, happily chatting and excited only to come rushing back in a torrential downpour about 30 minutes later.

And then there have been those windy days, those days that most of the country have been experiencing on and off over the last few weeks. We even had our own Nor’west arch for a couple of days. And one morning when I was walking along Pilot Bay in a howling westerly, I spotted this yacht with a broken mooring rope & buoy beached.

I thought surely someone would have phoned the harbourmaster but then I thought perhaps not and if it was our boat I’d hope somebody would follow it up. So I ducked behind a car out of the wind and called the afterhours harbourmaster number. He hadn’t been called so then I had to go down to the yacht and find some identification for him & the number on the buoy. Luckily for the owner the tide was going out and the wind had actually flattened the waves quite a lot so it wasn’t going to get battered about in the surf. But it did look like the keel had been broken off as it hit the shallow water.

The constant parade of people past our kitchen window have included a hundred or so Santas on the Great KidsCan Santa Charity Fun Run.

And the first race of Tri NZ Tinman National Series.

And nearly every evening the surf club members are out, either training on the sand or paddling their boards or kayaks off the beach or around the Mount and back. Some at least 4-5 times! On the weekends the nippers come out to ‘play’.

I now know why the Main Beach looked so white that first time I saw it after we arrived back in the Bay. It gets groomed a couple times a week, before and after each weekend up until Christmas and then everyday over the holiday period. Which is great. Except if you are parked up on the front row of the campground. From about 2am I can hear the low rumble as the tractor pulling the groomer moves up and down the beach. That actually isn’t so bad. It’s the thousand & one spotlights he has across the top of the roll cage that shine in my bedroom window as he turns for his next run!

There’s no going back to sleep after that so it’s up at the crack of dawn and off on my walk marvelling at the early morning light and hundreds of rabbits scurrying about- the paddock in front of me is a moving mass of bobbing white tails. If I look out the van at night there are dark moving lumps in every direction, some take no notice when you walk by but stop, and they scatter in all directions. 

I have been watching these starling chicks grow in leaps and bounds over the last two weeks. Their nest is at eye level in an old rotten hollow right beside the Base Track. At first they stayed back down in bottom of the hole and all I could see was their fluffy heads and bright yellow bills. I was alerted to them by the squawking and a parent departing right across my face. They’ve now lost all their fluff and have moved up to the edge of the hollow, it won’t be long before they’re gone.

I just wish I had my camera back to catch some of the lovely sights I’ve seen on my walks, my camera phone doesn’t quite cut the mustard especially if I need to zoom in a little. My Nikon is not due until mid next w$$k!!

I also wanted my camera so I could catch up to date on my favourite street artist’s latest artworks- . Nelson Mandela has joined Johnny Cash and now adorns the wall across from OD’s (Owen Dippie) studio. There are also another couple of artworks in Tauranga city that I have yet to shoot. Sadly OD is moving to Auckland so there won’t be too many more done on the walls around the back lanes of the Bay’s industrial buildings. Here’s the blog post from last year with some of his other amazing artworks.

Last Friday evening we walked to Coronation Park at the other end of town for the first Gourmet Night Market of the season, this being the 2nd year that they've run. From December to February over 6000 locals & visitors head to the park every Friday night for an evening of fun, entertainment & delicious gourmet street food.

I can tell you, choosing dinner from over 50 food stalls set up around the perimetre of the park is extremely hard! We loved the family friendly atmosphere and the amazing choice of food. There’s also live music from a local band or musician playing each evening.

We were also very impressed with the custom designed waste stations set up for recycling along with willing helpers making sure waste made its way into the right bins.  Last year the market diverted 94% of its waste  away from the landfill, this year their target is 99%. I can see this market will become one of the ‘must dos’ when visiting the Bay of Plenty and a regular night out for the locals- we’ll certainly be going again this Friday.

For the last few days we have been enjoying the company of another Ultima. Judy & Craig from Otaki took delivery of their brand new Ultima Series II and have been parked here at the Mount while their Ranger had the fifth-wheel hitch fitted and they learnt the ropes before heading home. David has been able to give them some good tips and talk them through various things. I know how overwhelming it is when you first take possession, it all seems foreign and the van seems so HUGE. Eventually it all falls into place and it becomes second nature. There have been at least 3 other Ultimas parked up at the Mount at various times during our stay here; 2 other new vans and our friends Bruce & Barb from Kerikeri who came down to see us before we left.

And finally, a selection of our beautiful NZ Christmas tree. The pohutukawa are blooming all over the Mount now. The red is so intense up close, I wish I had my camera…….