our flight doesn’t leave until 4.40 pm so we had time today to see a little more of Christchurch before heading to the airport. It was only a few minutes drive from the hotel to the Quake City Museum. Like all the others we’ve visited here, it was excellent . Listening to the stories of the people that survived the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 ( And the thousands of aftershocks!) was really moving. While we have been here we’ve noticed all the new buildings and the construction that is still happening but we had no idea that 80% of the CBD buildings were demolished after the earthquake!
Fortunately the lovely botanic gardens survived unscathed and that’s where we drove to next. It’s a lovely warm sunny day today and as it’s the weekend the garden carparks were packed ! We couldn’t find a space in the main carpark but Neil’s goid luck came good in the second one and we nabbed the only empty spot. From there we walked across the Avon river on a little bridge into the gardens. There were some pretty early spring displays of cherry blossoms and tulips and it’s particularly pretty where the river runs through banks of daffodils
we watched some groups being punted along the river by boater hatted guides and there were plenty of people gliding down the river on canoes. This was something we had done with the kids on our first visit and we remembered this section of the gardens very well.
When we left the gardens we wanted to fill in a little time before heading to the airport so we stopped at the Westfield at Riccarton for a coffee. At the airport we gained access to the Manaia lounge with Neil’s priority pass and sat down to rest and relax before the flight. It was a small lounge but a good one!
A last glass of bubbly to toast the end of our trip. We have both really enjoyed our travels around New Zealand, it is such a beautiful country and travel here is so easy. I’m sure we will be back to explore the parts we missed this time, but I think we will aim to come in the warmer weather ☺️