We've had to park in some narrow driveways at our accommodations in Australia over the last week, and at one of these places I managed to scrape the front bumper on a fence. I thought we might be on the hook for the damages but luckily the attendant didn't notice or care when we dropped the car off in Sydney. What a relief.
We spent Thursday night, our last night in Australia, at a swanky downtown hotel in Sydney. The kids were happy to visit the Apple Store one last time, and it was nice to stroll down to the harbour again to see the Opera House and bridge. Catheleen and I stopped in at a pub in The Rocks district next to the harbour, and I had a schooner of beer called 150 lashes, which was really good.
The beer is named after a rogue and entrepreneur from the early days of Sydney named James Squire. He was sent to Sydney in the 1790's with the first fleet for stealing some chickens. After serving his seven years, he led a colourful life in Sydney with his mistress, wife and businesses. He's credited with starting the first brewery in town, and was later caught stealing plants from a local hospital to imitate the flavour of the hops used in his beer. For this offence he received 150 lashes immediately and 150 lashes later when he could bear it. This was a lenient sentence at the time, and the last 150 lashes were conveniently forgotten. It's suspected that the local authorities really liked his brewery, and maybe received free drinks, which probably played a role in his lenient sentence. When he died in the 1820's, it was the most well attended funeral up to that point. There's more information on Australia's convict past these days, and it's a point of fascination for many now to have a convict ancestor, rather than it being something to be covered up. From shame to fame.
The next morning we flew to New Zealand. We really enjoyed the in-flight safety briefing with the catchy song based on the Men in Black movie. You can find it here or just search for it on You Tube - http://www.slashfilm.com/men-in-black-airline-safety-video/ . New Zealand airlines has collaborated with Sony on a number of videos, including a Lord of the Rings video. What a nice change from the dry safety demonstrations we've suffered through over the years. Leave it to the crazy Kiwis to mix it up a bit. On our descent we had clear views of snow capped mountains, grey silted rivers, and endless farms in the plains. Very exciting so see all this packed into a small area.
On our first and only full day in Christchurch today, we took the gondola ride up to the summit near Christchurch which offered stunning views of Christchurch city, the Pacific ocean, the Southern Alps and Lyttelton Harbour. It was a beautiful cool sunny day, and we enjoyed walking around at the summit on some of the trails, with tall clumps of shiny golden grasses surrounding us and small birds overhead, singing continual melodic tunes as they went. We also took a ride at the summit called the Time Tunnel, where a carriage rolled slowly through a few rooms with videos and displays showing the history of the Cantebury region. It started with the aboriginals who arrived here 1,000 years ago, and moved on to the first settlers who arrived in 1850 with visions of creating a model English town in a Neo-Gothic style like Oxford England. We all liked the ride, it was well done.
Later today we took a tram ride around the city centre. Christchurch was severely damaged by major earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. The one in 2011 killed 185 people and destroyed much of the downtown core - it's estimated that insurance payouts will total $20 to $30 billion. The tram driver provided great commentary on the reconstruction efforts. Over 1,000 buildings have been torn down since the earthquakes, and many more are slated for demolition. A lot of the abandoned buildings are covered in graffiti with broken windows. A large number of buildings are under construction, many with just steel frames built at this point.
The main cathedral in the centre of town is a wreck with its demolished spire and cracks throughout the structure. There is a standoff at this point between the church authorities, who want to tear it down and rebuild, and many residents who want it repaired to help maintain the character of the downtown. The government has appointed a mediator to help settle the dispute. In the meantime the church built a transitional cathedral in 2013 called the cardboard cathedral, since it was built in part with cardboard tubes. I can't see the tubes but I was impressed with the building with its tall A-frame style. When we stopped by on a Saturday afternoon there was a service going on, which was nice to see.
We also visited a temporary memorial downtown to the victims, which consisted of 185 chairs, all painted in white. Each chair was unique, to signify the uniqueness and value of each person who lost their lives. The chairs included small stools, a wheelchair and a baby car seat. It was very poignant and moving.
Our hotel proprietor Annie told us her story. Her daughter was downtown at the time of the 2011 earthquake, and had to run for it to escape the mud and water. It turns out Christchurch is built on a diverted river bed, and ground water rushed out of the earth as it liquified during the earthquake. She came back home with mud up to her chest. What a harrowing tale. Annie's house in the outlying streets was not affected, but other houses were ruined, seemingly at random. She said many people feel guilty that they were not affected when others were.
Later we stopped by one of the only shopping areas open at present in downtown Christchurch called Re:Start, which was built out of shipping containers. It was actually well done, with some of the sides of the containers replaced with glass. From the inside of some of these buildings, it was hard to tell these were temporary structures. Good for them for thinking about innovative ways of getting on with it.
Here are the kids at the summit on a walking trail.
We spent Thursday night, our last night in Australia, at a swanky downtown hotel in Sydney. The kids were happy to visit the Apple Store one last time, and it was nice to stroll down to the harbour again to see the Opera House and bridge. Catheleen and I stopped in at a pub in The Rocks district next to the harbour, and I had a schooner of beer called 150 lashes, which was really good.
The beer is named after a rogue and entrepreneur from the early days of Sydney named James Squire. He was sent to Sydney in the 1790's with the first fleet for stealing some chickens. After serving his seven years, he led a colourful life in Sydney with his mistress, wife and businesses. He's credited with starting the first brewery in town, and was later caught stealing plants from a local hospital to imitate the flavour of the hops used in his beer. For this offence he received 150 lashes immediately and 150 lashes later when he could bear it. This was a lenient sentence at the time, and the last 150 lashes were conveniently forgotten. It's suspected that the local authorities really liked his brewery, and maybe received free drinks, which probably played a role in his lenient sentence. When he died in the 1820's, it was the most well attended funeral up to that point. There's more information on Australia's convict past these days, and it's a point of fascination for many now to have a convict ancestor, rather than it being something to be covered up. From shame to fame.
The next morning we flew to New Zealand. We really enjoyed the in-flight safety briefing with the catchy song based on the Men in Black movie. You can find it here or just search for it on You Tube - http://www.slashfilm.com/men-in-black-airline-safety-video/ . New Zealand airlines has collaborated with Sony on a number of videos, including a Lord of the Rings video. What a nice change from the dry safety demonstrations we've suffered through over the years. Leave it to the crazy Kiwis to mix it up a bit. On our descent we had clear views of snow capped mountains, grey silted rivers, and endless farms in the plains. Very exciting so see all this packed into a small area.
On our first and only full day in Christchurch today, we took the gondola ride up to the summit near Christchurch which offered stunning views of Christchurch city, the Pacific ocean, the Southern Alps and Lyttelton Harbour. It was a beautiful cool sunny day, and we enjoyed walking around at the summit on some of the trails, with tall clumps of shiny golden grasses surrounding us and small birds overhead, singing continual melodic tunes as they went. We also took a ride at the summit called the Time Tunnel, where a carriage rolled slowly through a few rooms with videos and displays showing the history of the Cantebury region. It started with the aboriginals who arrived here 1,000 years ago, and moved on to the first settlers who arrived in 1850 with visions of creating a model English town in a Neo-Gothic style like Oxford England. We all liked the ride, it was well done.
Later today we took a tram ride around the city centre. Christchurch was severely damaged by major earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. The one in 2011 killed 185 people and destroyed much of the downtown core - it's estimated that insurance payouts will total $20 to $30 billion. The tram driver provided great commentary on the reconstruction efforts. Over 1,000 buildings have been torn down since the earthquakes, and many more are slated for demolition. A lot of the abandoned buildings are covered in graffiti with broken windows. A large number of buildings are under construction, many with just steel frames built at this point.
The main cathedral in the centre of town is a wreck with its demolished spire and cracks throughout the structure. There is a standoff at this point between the church authorities, who want to tear it down and rebuild, and many residents who want it repaired to help maintain the character of the downtown. The government has appointed a mediator to help settle the dispute. In the meantime the church built a transitional cathedral in 2013 called the cardboard cathedral, since it was built in part with cardboard tubes. I can't see the tubes but I was impressed with the building with its tall A-frame style. When we stopped by on a Saturday afternoon there was a service going on, which was nice to see.
We also visited a temporary memorial downtown to the victims, which consisted of 185 chairs, all painted in white. Each chair was unique, to signify the uniqueness and value of each person who lost their lives. The chairs included small stools, a wheelchair and a baby car seat. It was very poignant and moving.
Our hotel proprietor Annie told us her story. Her daughter was downtown at the time of the 2011 earthquake, and had to run for it to escape the mud and water. It turns out Christchurch is built on a diverted river bed, and ground water rushed out of the earth as it liquified during the earthquake. She came back home with mud up to her chest. What a harrowing tale. Annie's house in the outlying streets was not affected, but other houses were ruined, seemingly at random. She said many people feel guilty that they were not affected when others were.
Later we stopped by one of the only shopping areas open at present in downtown Christchurch called Re:Start, which was built out of shipping containers. It was actually well done, with some of the sides of the containers replaced with glass. From the inside of some of these buildings, it was hard to tell these were temporary structures. Good for them for thinking about innovative ways of getting on with it.
Here are the kids at the summit on a walking trail.
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