Akaroa to Christchurch

Cosy cafe, with good coffee and amazing carrot cake

Akaroa was not at its sunny best as we waited around for our bus to Christchurch.  Still wearing rain gear, and in need of cheer, we headed off for a coffee and a sweet treat.

Michelle, Alicia, and Margaret

At the bus shelter we happened upon  Michelle, Alicia and Margaret, whom we had last seen at the Akaroa lookout.  They were picking up supplies, and staying at a B and B in town for the night.   They noted that I did not look like a Kiwi tramper because "no respectable Kiwi would wear rain pants!"  Bare legs and shorts was the way to go, regardless of the weather.  But Michelle and Alicia looked really cold.  Margaret had already succumbed to the lure of long pants--she was not suffering for the sake of image. I intended to wear my rain pants all the way to Christchurch.

When the tiny bus finally arrived, we discovered that it was packed with friendly folk and one dog that snuggled up to my animal-averse husband.  The dog's owners had been in Akaroa to oversee the replacement of their chimney and fireplace, destroyed in the February 2011 earthquake.  We learned that their son, a student at Canterbury U, was living in a flat that was condemned ("red-stickered"), and that the bus driver had moved to his batch (holiday home) in Akaroa because his Christchurch home had been totalled.

One of many Christchurch parks

  Every scrap of portable fence must be in Christchurch

An hour later we were gazing at the reality that is now Christchurch.  There was road construction everywhere because so many streets had buckled and twisted during the quake and the aftershocks.  Familiar landmarks had disappeared, and streets had been closed throughout the downtown so that a simple drive to the airport was an obstacle course that took much longer than expected, but finally we made it back into midtown and our friends' house on College Avenue.  It looked to be in good shape, but we knew it to have interior damage. Things aren't always what they seem in Christchurch.

The Haig house.