akaroa and christchurch.

Our first of two stops on the south island of New Zealand was the beautiful harbour of Akaroa, which is about an hour and a half drive from Christchurch, the largest city on the south island.  Akaroa is a small town of only about 570 permanent residents, but is a popular tourist spot due to a large population of Hector dolphins, which are the world's smallest and rarest dolphin.  There is also a huge colony of albatross located near the entrance to the harbour, which we were able to glimpse from the ship as we sailed away.

we had to take tender boats from the ship to the dock - fun!

Akaroa.

Before we planned our trip I was a bit concerned that we wouldn't have much to do in Akaroa due to its small size, so Candice and I decided to purchase an excursion to Christchurch.  The bus ride to Christchurch was beautiful, as it traveled up through the surrounding hills and featured incredible views of the harbour.  I should also mention that Akaroa Harbour is an extinct volcanic crater, so as you can imagine I was loving it!  The ride was long though, so we were glad when the bus finally arrived in Christchurch for our brief tour.  The driver showed us a few interesting and significant locations on our way to the Botanic Gardens, most of which had to do with the aftermath of the 2010 through 2012 earthquakes.  We were then dropped off and told we had a little over an hour to explore before we had to be back on the bus for our next stop.  So Candice and I grabbed our city map and headed off to make the most of it!

view of the harbour (and our ship) from the bus

surrounding hills

Christchurch Botanic Gardens

Our first stop was the Christchurch Cathedral, which was built between 1864 and 1904 and which was damaged extensively during the February 2011 earthquake.  The most prominent feature of the church, a 207-foot high spire, was completely destroyed during this earthquake, and most of the other portions of the church were damaged.  It was a very sad reminder of the over 1,000 buildings in the CBD (one third of all the buildings in the city) that were demolished following the earthquakes, with several hundred additional buildings that are unsafe and have yet to be demolished.  Despite this incredible loss, there were many beautiful new art installations and memorials built around the church and throughout the city, and we were very moved by the constant message that Christchurch is growing and rebuilding.

Christchurch Cathedral

Flag Wall art installation at Cathedral Square

Bridge of Remembrance

punting (boating) along the Avon river

After visiting the Christchurch Cathedral and seeing much of the demolition of the city, we paid a visit to the Cardboard Cathedral, which is a transitional church built following the earthquakes for the community of the original Christchurch Cathedral.  As the name suggests, it is made primarily of cardboard, but also includes recycled shipping containers forming the walls.  It is quite a striking and beautiful cathedral, especially considering the relative simplicity of the design and building materials.  

Cardboard Cathedral

inside the cathedral

Across the street from the Cardboard Cathedral we visited a temporary art memorial of 185 empty white chairs that symbolises the 185 people who were killed in the February 2011 earthquake.

Another recently built area that we wanted to see was the Re:START container mall, which is an outdoor mall made entirely out of shipping containers.  There were banks, cafes, clothing stores, and many different shops in the mall, and each container was painted in different colours either corresponding to the business or simply to draw the customers eye.

some of the sculptures from the summer's "Christchurch Stands Tall" fibreglass giraffe art project

Sadly that was all the time we had in Christchurch city, before we were whisked off to the second part of our tour, the International Antarctic Centre.  Christchurch is the departure point for many expeditions and serves as the major base for New Zealand, Italian and US Antarctic programs.  As Christchurch was accumulating so much gear and equipment from these expeditions, they decided to build a museum and visitor centre, which also provides base facilities for ongoing and upcoming expeditions.  

Upon our arrival at the centre, we were immediately thrown into Hagglunds, which are these awesome track driven all-terrain vehicles that are still used today during expeditions.  The driver had us strap in and then drove us to an obstacle course where he proceeded to demonstrate the abilities of the Hagglund, such as climbing 45-degree inclines, going over crevasses, and floating and propelling through water.  It was quite the fun thrill ride, and a great start to our tour!

Hagglund-riding

Next we were taken into an Antarctic storm simulator, where most of us had jackets on, but one volunteer had to endure it in just a t-shirt.  It was definitely cold, but we were only in the simulator for a couple minutes so it wasn't too intense.  We then saw some adorable little blue penguins, which are the smallest species of penguin in the world, and experienced a 4-D Antarctic Expedition movie (which is where your seat vibrates and they spray you with water).  By that point we were starving so had some lunch at the cafe, which prevented us from exploring more of the museum, but like I said it was a bit of a rushed day.

bundled up inside the storm simulator

blue penguins

Now that we've been through the process once, I think we both agree that we would choose to stay in Akaroa next time.  We were very glad to see Christchurch and spend a bit of time exploring the city, but unfortunately the distance between the harbour and the city made our day very rushed.  The long travel distance wasn't always necessary, but the former port the cruise ships used to dock at in Lyttelton Harbour was damaged in the 2011 earthquake, so they now anchor in Akaroa.  Perhaps they'll change locations again when the port is repaired, but it would also be a shame if future cruisers had to miss out on the spectacular beauty of Akaroa and the native wildlife found throughout the volcanic harbour.

BK