October 4,
2013: CHRISTCHURCH
Sunny this
morning in Christchurch. We drove into town to see the earthquake damage which
was extensive. Many buildings were boarded up and others were being repaired.
Of course, there were entire blocks where there was nothing but rubble or
nothing where the rubble had been. We drove toward New Brighton on the beach.
Even there several miles out of the CBD ,
evidence of building damage was visible. Places where there had been homes were
grassy plots of ground. At the beach we walked onto a 300 meter pier that
jutted out into the surf. Many people were fishing, but most were crabbing. The
crabs we saw were small, nothing like Dungeness. No size limits according to a
poster.
We spoke to a
young man about his crabbing. He mentioned he had been to the states and even
drove through Cannon Beach.
We drove back
into the main part of town and stopped for lunch at a Japanese restaurant for
some Curry Katsu, deep fried chicken strips over rice with curry sauce. After
lunch I thought it good to find the airport as we were to drive there early
Sunday for our flight to Sydney. The airport is west several miles from where
we are staying and the traffic around the motel is heavy. We found another
hotel nearer the airport, the Copthorne, and after checking with our current
motel, made a reservation for Saturday night. Our Sunday morning flight would
be much easier. Of course, we'd need to move the following day. But the new
place had a pool and hot tub!
After
relaxing in our room and catching up on Republican mischief in the USA, we
walked down the street to aces little stores. We stopped at a new age store
full of religious artifacts. Hindu, Buddhist, Wiccan, Celtic Christian, and
secular statues and posters filled the store. The proprietor said she missed
the first of the three large earthquakes in the fall of 2010. Since that time
there have been over 12,000 aftershocks in the area.
October 5,
2013: CHRISTCHURCH
We moved into
a new hotel nearer the airport in the morning. The Copthorne Commander is a
very nice hotel near a golf course. It has a spa and pool. And a lunch buffet
that we chose to partake in rather than fast food or deli food.
We sat out on
the interior patio near the pool and read in the morning. This was done due to
the pleasant weather. Later we took the car back to the airport early in order
to speed up our activities the next morning when we were to leave for Sydney.
A group
staying at the hotel was from the US: military personnel going to Antarctica
for the summer.
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