Memories of Christchurch

Some of you may have read my post earlier this week, just after the disastrous earthquake in the city in which I was born and brought up.
The news gets sadder every day, with about 100 now confirmed dead, and another 250 still missing. I have been thinking about my years there and the places I used to know well; these pictures are how I would like to remember the city.

For about 8 years of my childhood we lived in New Brighton. My strongest memory, apart from our big wooden two-storeyed house, is of the beach - stretching for miles, windswept, grey-sanded. There was a long wooden pier, dilapidated and dangerous, under which I very nearly drowned. Today there is a new streamlined pier.



When I was a teenager we moved to Sumner, another beachside suburb. In those angst-ridden times I often used to walk along the beach at night and sit on top of the Cave Rock (centre of picture). I always felt perfectly safe, and never came to any harm.



I attended Christchurch Girls' High School, in an old building only a block or 2 from the centre of the city. Today, there is a new campus on far bigger grounds, further out of the CBD.








Another view of the old building:

One of the best features of the city is (was?) Hagley Park, a huge acreage of recreational ground wisely set aside by the founders for their descendants.

There were sporting grounds, walking and running tracks, lakes and playgrounds.
A busy main road runs through the Park, and along both sides of it are beautiful cherries which make a stunning show in the springtime.

Of course they have been renewed and replaced many times over the years, but I am very proud of the fact that my father was responsible for the original plantings, when he was an elected member of the City Council.

Christchurch has always prided itself on its gardens. Through the city runs the Avon river (yes, named after the English one). I used to love being taken boating on the river,

and to the Botanic Gardens and Museum

In the background of these two pictures is the old University, which I attended. These days it is an Arts centre; I wonder how much of it has survived the quakes?

Christchurch had a small but busy port called Lyttelton. This is where the latest quake was centred



And finally, another picture of the iconic (yes, that word is badly overused, but in this case it's correct)

Cathedral

Thanks for reading.
These photos are by David Wall or from this site by Michelle.

So sad for the city I was born in

I was born in Christchurch, New Zealand. Went to school, University and Teachers' College there. Married, divorced and married again. My two children were born there.

Cathedral Square, Christchurch NZ

 

 I was never particularly fond of the city - didn't like the climate, the atmosphere, or the prospects; I was very happy to move northwards into warmer parts of the country, first to Wellington and then to the Bay of Plenty. But I have many happy memories of people and places there, and there are still many family members there.


On September 4 last year the city suffered the most destructive earthquakequake to hit New Zealand in 80 years when a 7.0-magnitude tremor damaged 100,000 homes, leaving a clean-up bill estimated at NZ$4.0 billion dollars (US$3.0 billion).
The city remained under a state of emergency for weeks with police cordoning off the centre for fear of collapsing buildings, as thousands of aftershocks hit the region. The only good thing was that no deaths or serious injuries occurred.

Today, however, another major quake happened - only 6.3 but very shallow (5kms), and only a few kilometers from the central city. This time it is a major disaster, with people calling the city "irreparable".

Many people are trapped inside what was a five-storey building.

What really brings it home to me, and makes me feel like crying, is seeing that the spire of the Cathedral has fallen. This building was the central point of the city (see top picture) and as a school and university student I walked past it every day, often several times.

I feel shocked, numb, grieving. I cannot begin to imagine what the people of my home town are going through.

The amazing Sand Man

I found this totally awesome - Peter Donnelly, a sand artist from my birthplace of Christchurch, New Zealand. I played on this beach many times as a child, and nearly drowned under the pier....