Christchurch - Trip Down Memory Lane

On my way from Aoraki to Christchurch, I spent two nights in Lake Tekapo to visit the Church of the Good Shepard and the monument dedicated to said Shepard.

After Tekapo I was heading to Mount Sunday, which was featured heavily in Lord of the Rings. It was the home of the King of Rohan. The weather wasn't fully with me, but it still offered fantastic views over the plains of central Canterbury.

Christchurch's city centre has a special place in my heart and life. I was here in 2011, when an earthquake devastated the city and killed over 180 people. I was living in the city centre when the earthquake struck at 12.52pm. I was not able to get back to my flat and had to rely on my co-workers and the red cross for help. That's a story for another time, though.

Anyway, as I was walking through the city 13 years later, I hardly recognised anything. I visited the church (not even close to being rebuilt), my former language school (a huge construction site) and my accommodation at the time (totall run down). It filled me with sadness that a city that I really liked, was not even close to its former glory.

As part of my stroll around, I did visit the very interesting Quake museum that informs and educated visitors about the causes, effects and devastation the earthquake had on the city. What was really nice, was that I had a chance to talk to the staff about the events on that infamous day - truly taking me back in time.

With that trip down memory lane behind, that evening, I was picked up by Laura as I would spend the next 3 nights with her and Nick, both of whom I met on my Africa adventure at the start of this trip. It was a heartfelt reunion and we chatted about our time in Africa and all the good moments we shared together.

On the first day, Nick and I went to Arthur's Pass to walk up a beautiful waterfall called Devil's Punshbowl before heading to Castle Hill - a beautiful spot that served as a movie backdrop mainly for Narnia. In the evening, we had a big family dinner with Laura's family and talked all things New Zealand, travel and Africa.

The next day, Laura and I went to Akaroa, which was my first day trip out of Christchurch 13 years ago. After a short-ish hike, we sat down by the water, had some chips and chatted the time away. In the evening, we drove to her family's barch - i.e. weekend hut, and had a final meal in a local pub. In the morning, we visited a cute weekend market in Lyttleton, before I had to say goodbye.

I had such a fantastic time with the two and it was lovely to see them 6 months later and still connect easily and re-live our Africa trip. The two are typical Kiwi's, i.e. outdoorsy, hands-on and active. Just like the whole country.Read more