Christchurch. A sad tale and rebuilding.

Closed road down to the bus stop. Still being dug up to replace sewage and water pipes as well as elecricity and drainage and of course to repair damage to the raod. Many houses are still being rebuilt and some simply demolished with empty land now the sad reality.

 I went to Christchurch to stay with Mark, Chloe, Jahred and Matt Dell who had left Cape Town many years ago. Both boys went to SACS until they came here. Immediately it became apparent as Mark drove me from the station, that so much was still broken in earthquake riven Christchurch. Many of these photographs show the agony of this ravaged city still struggling up from the massive devastation of 2011. These first photos are on the first day with the sun coming and going.

Equipment in front of a semi-demolished and condemned home.

Someone's bright idea. Shipping container shopping Mall where one came down in the earthquake.

Constructing an 'earthquake proof' building whre one went down.

More road rehabilitation in the city.

More reconstruction.

One of the seriously damaged brick heritage buildings shored up with steel and conctrete.

Cathedral Square memorial. One of many.

One building left standing, condemned and empty!

The sad remains of the Cathedral. No longer a viable building. Condemned.

An interesting memorial in front of the devastated Cathedral. The entire building is wreathed in living plants.

Close up view of the Cathedral in its agony.

Moari remembrance pole before the City Council Building.

Thought of Simon Perkin's memorable saying when I saw this.

Inside the home covered in New Zeland 'perlemoen/albacore' shells.

Triceratops and plant eating dinosaur sculls. Huge!

For Tim Haag in the USA. This is a slice of a tree trunk. These trees were ruthlessly cut down by the Moaris and British when each arrived on these islands in the 1500's and 1800's respectively. So very sad that such giants were felled. Time to replant. Now is the time. Much of the cleared land is no longer being used. It is never too late.

A living plant memorial to the earthquake devastation in the Botanic gardens. I was overwhelmed by all the magnificent trees more than 100 years old and just majestic.

A copse of indigenous pines.

A huge Sequoia.

Magnificent fruit eating pigeon. Unfortunately they are very fat and lazy fliers and not too afraid of people and have been devastated over the last three centuries, but thankfully are now protected. They only lay one egg and are thus slow to recover.

Selfie before a magnificent Californian Redwood.

The base of the Redwood.

Looking up towards the crown. Magnificent tree.

White headed ducks. well, the male is anyway!

Inside one of the conservatories with startling colour and overwhelming scent.

Entrance to this massive rose garden.

So mny colours and the Old English roses with overpowering scent.

A gloriously huge Cyprus.

Up into a huge Eucalyptus.

Another gigantic Cyprus. The sign is the size of a sheet of A5 paper.

St Andrews School Pipe Band before the Police parade before the mayor.

This young man was the epitomy of a 'Scots soldier' marching perfectly.

Theparade about to set off.

Close enough to see the school emblem.

The Dell's home up on the hillside with some earthquake damage still not repaired or assessed fully.

A little copse below their home. So tranquil to walk through with many birds around.

Reconstruction.

Too fragile to restore. The temporary cover hiding the devastation.

Another view and the inevitable traffic restriction.

There was a building where the cars are. Now a mural covers the blank wall of the adjoining one. This is one of many murals trying to cover the scars.

One chair to everyone who died. It includes a wheelchair and baby chiars too. 185.

This building is abandoned and condemned like so many others, never to be occupied again!

The cardboard Cathedral, literally, built to replace the huge one on Cathedral Square until a decision can be made about a rebuild.

Inside. Those massive roof trusses are cardboard tubes. Only the chairs are made of plywood.

A garden of indigenous plants to replace a building on land that liquified during the earthquake.

Another giant mural.

And another!

This is everywhere, inscriptions in many colours to indicate where underground pipes and wires are.

Another giant mural.

Devastated shopfront covered to hide the rubble.

Another surviving building. The size of these paintings is indicated by the cars below it.

Just another view of the main Cathedral. So very sad.

And here was where the city centre was, huge multistory buildings, lots of them. Gone. The one on the right, empty.

Two St Andrews boys earning some pocket money. They had been in the parade two days before!

This is a ceramic chair made up of pieces brought by people from shops and homes in Colombo street which was so devastated. It is made of concrete and covered with the shards found in the rubble placed where a restaurant and shops used to stand.

And amidst all of this, I found one! I will have it thanks.

I drank this remembering my great friend who hosted me in Christchurch, England in August. Thanks Paul Dashwood

I bought this for Chloe Dell to replace the copious amounts of tea I drank while with them.

View from atop the hills behind the house looking South Eastward.

Looking North Eastward.

Looking West accross the plain over the city of Christchurch.

Greta use of shipping containers, to hold back rocks and sand from a cliff that collapsed in Sumner.

Nearly a half a kilometer of containers.

Condemned houses now on the edge of the cliff with a new face about 40 meters shorter.

Another unstable cliff face with containers holding it upand protecting the road.

With Jahred who I taught and coached in rowing so many years ago. He is now a superb teacher of English himself. So proud of him.

An aerial view of the West Coast of the South Island in a photographic mural at Christchurch Airport.

On my way back to Auckland, The journey winds down to its inevitable conclusion.