Christchurch – silverfox175

Our next port was Lyttleton, the gateway to Christchurch.

Part of Lyttleton harbour

We had visited Christchurch on our last trip via Akaroa, because Lyttleton port was still out of action due to the earthquake. When we booked this cruise we were hoping that we would visit Christchurch via Akaroa again because during our last visit Akaroa was just a transit place to board the coach for Christchurch.

Akaroa looked an interesting place with the French influence due to Jean Langlois buying land from twelve local Maori Chiefs. Langlois planned to resell the land to French settlers back in France.

The original name of Lyttleton was Port Cooper after Daniel Cooper (1785-1853) from Bolton in Lancashire UK who was convicted at Chester for theft. He was transported for life and became a very successful businessman. His life story reads like a novel.
Later Lyttleton became known as Port Victoria until 1858 when it was formalised by the Governor as Lyttleton, after George William Lyttleton.

Lyttleton’s main shopping street (London Street)

Because we had seen Christchurch Maureen wanted to see more of Lyttleton, the last time I visited Lyttleton was in the 1960’s and it did not look like it had changed all that much, except for the closure of a few pubs due to the earthquake.

There were quite a few passengers from the Majestic Princess who had the same idea, so we joined the queue for the local shuttle bus rather than the Christchurch shuttle. At least the Lyttleton bus was free, and the journey was less than five minutes.

We walked the shopping street – both sides – and returned to the drop-off point.

You can see how close we were to the ship -on the left is one of the shuttle buses. 

We had hoped to walk to the Time Ball clock that had been repaired after being damaged during the earthquake.

The above shows what the Time Ball looked like before the earthquake. The whole building, including the tower, was reduced to rubble during the earthquake.

 The Time Ball had been in use since 1876 and up to 1934 was the only way mariners could check their chronometers to assist in accurate navigation.In 1934 the time ball was replaced by radio signals. 

After the earthquake all the stones were rescued and numbered and the tower was able to be reconstructed, but unfortunately not the original building.

                                                  The current Time Ball
The climb to the view the Time Ball was all too much for Maureen, so we made our way back to the ship. 

I was hoping to take Maureen to the Mitre Hotel, which first opened in 1849 but was destroyed by fire in 1875 and rebuilt.
In November 1910 Captain Robert Falcon Scott had his farewell dinner in the ballroom of this hotel. 

Captain Scott and his wife Kathleen aboard Terra Nova 1910.

In the 1960’s I had experienced some happy times over drinks in this hotel, so I was disappointed that the hotel was no longer in business, all due to the earthquake.  

The last I heard was that the owners were asking for permission to knock the place down due to the high cost of repair. 

Simple answer to a simple question – where shall we go for a drink before lunch, the Mitre Hotel is closed so we will try the Majestic.

The view was pleasant, and lunch was ready when we wanted it . . . 

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Our next port of call was to be Port Chalmers for Dunedin – once again we had visited Dunedin on our last visit and decided not to repeat the experience, because last time it rained, and the forecast for our visit was again, rain.

I took the above as we approached Port Chalmers – dramatic & beautiful, but not site seeing weather.

It was raining when we arrived in Port Chalmers. We, (as did many others), stayed on board, warm and dry.   

An unusual memorial to those who died in the Christchurch earthquake. 185 chairs all shapes and sizes painted white to remember the victims of the 2011. They stand on the ground where once stood a church – the church was destroyed by the earthquake.

Across the road the cardboard cathedral was pointed out to us.

The other side of the cardboard cathedral. It can seat 700 hundred people. The ‘A’ frame incorporates eighty six cardboard tubes each tube weighing 500 kilos. The picture is slightly off center because I took it from a moving vehicle, and we couldn’t stop.

This picture was taken from the internet – the original church on this site was demolished because of the amount of damage to it during the 2011 earthquake.

Artists are encouraged to beautify bare walls left after damaged buildings had been removed.

Part of the original Christchurch cathedral, which was badly damaged in the earthquake. I suppose it still is the cathedral because it is still consecrated.  Nobody was able to tell me if it would be repaired or demolished.

Other damaged buildings were being kept upright by placing sea containers two high to support the outer walls of the buildings.

Yet again, others were being held up with girders.

We had lunch in a shopping centre built out of sea freight containers. All the buildings in these photographs have been created by using containers.

This area was for banks and the post office.

Maureen and I sat in this area, which was an eating area for various types of take away food. To my right was a small bar with two containers cut open to allow the air to flow through the seated area. The bar sold draught beer, which might be an important fact for some readers – it was for me when I was there, it was a warm day . . . . .

Christchurch was far from miserable. Everyone we saw seemed happy and the place had plenty of spending tourists .I did hear that the council wanted to remove the sea container emergency shopping area, but the area has become a tourist attraction as a symbol of Christchurch’s fortitude.

Rebuilding is in full swing everywhere.

It was a beautiful day for walking across the River Avon – very English.

You could feed the ducks or just sit quiet under the trees. The river flowed gently.

Fortunately the war memorial survived.

Our driver / guide took us the scenic route back to Akaroa and our ship. The scenery was breathtaking. Every bend brought something new to photograph.

We stopped to admire the view towards the harbour only to see a London bus, which means someone took a wrong turn between Dulwich Library and Oxford Circus.

We’d crossed the hills and were now down on the flat driving to Akaroa and our tender boat. You can just see the two ships anchored.

An enjoyable day, and the ending couldn’t be better – it was an Italian night on the ship.

Our table stewards – port & starboard, dressed for Italian night.