downtown Christchurch now

Cathedral Square from the recently reopened Novotel; the ruins of the Cathedral on the left and the boarded-up iconic former Chief Post Office building in the left background.

High Street with new tram tracks.  The old CPO is in the distance.

industrial art near Woolston - a mobile steam powered sewing machine?

the 'Green Room' in a vacant lot on Colombo Street

Today we made our first visit here since November 2010 which was a few weeks after the big earthquake in September that year, but before the 'humdinger' in February 2011.  It was a sobering experience, with every second building now just a vacant lot and half the rest boarded up.  It reminded us of the D.H. Lawrence quote below. But at least there are more tram tracks in the streets than there used to be, even if they have no overhead wires as yet.


“Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically. The cataclysm has happened, we are among the ruins, we start to build up new little habitats, to have new little hopes. It is rather hard work: there is now no smooth road into the future: but we go round, or scramble over the obstacles. We’ve got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen.” ― D.H. Lawrence, the opening paragraph of Lady Chatterley's Lover