Christchurch is the city of 400,000 people. It’s one of the most easy cities to navigate, I only got lost once and tourists were asking me for directions because I looked so confident! A dream come true!
The city is filled with wide walkways, parks, gardens, trails along the river, arts and culture everywhere. I was so impressed with the arts and culture. It seemed like every where I turned there was something to view or to be entertained by street performers. The International Buskers Festival was happening and it was so much fun. One of my favourites was Kahuraki from Chile. The streets were filled with laughter for the whole festival.
Murals were on many walls and shared visual stories of people, places and experiences. They had a lovely street called Regent Street which was a couple blocks from where I was living. Lots of restaurants, and people watching to be had. The tram would run through there , one was sightseeing and the other a tram restaurant.
There was an incredible arts hub situated in the old University of Canterbury, a beautiful stoned building. An entire block is dedicated to fostering the arts, culture, education, and creativity.Te Matatiki Toi Ora is operated by an independent charity, and its home to over 70 entities, including galleries, museums, cinemas, boutique, retailers, accommodation, artisan, eateries, bars, events, educational and creative classes, venues, and more. It reminded me of the vision that the Renfrew Collingwood Arts Pow Wow held for so many years, with parts of their vision coming to fruition. Hopefully that vision will still carry through with the current residents in the Neighbourhood and some kind of cultural hub can be created and sustained, building on previous work of the creatives.
Across from the arts hub was the Botanical Gardens. Such a beautiful place to stroll through and stop to smell the roses, reflect, and appreciate the nature around me. At the centre, they had a World Peace Bell. Many of us were lining up to ring it considering the horrible challenges our world is dealing with now. So many people from different places gave me hope.
The city also had a number of markets in Cathedral Square and also within the arts hub. Most had arts and crafts as well as food trucks so there was always lots of activity happening. The Riverside market is very well-known and has a lot of different spaces to enjoy locally sourced and cooked food. They also had a market called the “ Seekers Makete”. Such a cool name!
I really enjoyed the art gallery. Every place I go has amazing storytelling of history as well as social and environmental movements. This gallery was no exception. They had line-cuts from England, history of New Zealand displayed in video, paintings, sculptures, weaving, and carvings, They had a section that had recipes to bring attention to environmental impacts of resource extraction. Mining crumble is an example.
There was a lot of rebuilding that was taking place as a result of the earthquake that happened in Christchurch a few years ago. The renovations on the cathedral was quite interesting as they had developed another facility that’s completely made of cardboard as a temporary place for people to worship. Many of these projects have had lots of stops and starts under way and are behind schedule due to financial constraints.
I had a beautiful day with friends of Jude Liskowich‘s, John and Rosemary. Jude and I went to high school together. They were friends of Jude‘s that she met 40 years ago when they all worked together as doctors and nurses in Isle – a -la Crosse, a rural community in northern Saskatchewan. We had a lot of laughs talking about our shared friend Jude, and all of our experiences travelling to different parts of the world. We spent the day going to beautiful park areas, surrounding the city. Public parks now that used to be old private estates with beautiful gardens situated along the river. We strolled through the gardens of Mona Vale and ate at the Riccarton House. From there, we went to Sumner Beach and had a beautiful walk along the beachfront. It was one of the destinations that my friend Joy recommended although she really expected me to walk the whole coastal walkway. It was considered a short jaunt from somebody who just got back from walking the Camino! John and Rosemary have been so helpful on this trip and keep in touch to make sure I’m safe and also to give me suggestions of different places I might want to experience on my journey through their beautiful country.
Tomorrow, I am going to take a day trip to Akaroa, a french settlement two hours from Christchurch.