Christchurch

Niklas in the new center of Christchurch

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 We were not quite prepared for what met us in Christchurch. It has almost been a year since the devastating earthquake on 22nd of February and still the whole citycenter is closed off. A soldier guarding one a the bridges into the center, letting builders in and keeping silly people like us out, spelled it out for us: There is not really much to see any more...
He sent us to a makeshift shoppingsenter built out of shipping containers and on our way towards it we became aware of the depressed feel to this still devastated city, where lots of people lost their businesses, houses, loved ones or lives. Sooner than planned we left what felt like a war sone and moved south towards the sea, where found Orton Bradley Park. What a great place run by very friendly people! They had old village houses to visit and several walking tracks, an adventure playground and a sheep farm, where they let us watch the sheep sheering the next morning. We were allowed to pitch in, collecting the woll off the floor and then compress it. We all loved it and Lea refused to get out of the big bag full of cuddely, (smelly) wool.
Our last day in NZ was spent at Willowbanks Wildlife Reserve, where we got to see Kiwis(!!!) and lots of other animals. That was a great way to end our stay in NZ, we thought - and then we could not leave the country. Due to tecnical problems our Emirates flight to Sydney was cancelled and when the rebooked 350 people, total chaos broke loose... We spent the night at a hotel (great dinner buffet!) and then we came back the next morning at 5 o'clock to learn that we could not take that flight either. Finally we got to Sydney via Auckland at lunch time - but that is a new post altogether.

Silja compresses wool, inappropriatly dressed.