ChCh

Christchurch made world news in February 2011 when it was hit by a second devastating earthquake (the first of which was in 2010 and badly damaged buildings but no lives were lost). It destroyed the already fragile buildings and killed 185 people. We knew Christchurch was going to be an interesting place to stay but felt it was an important part of our Kiwi trip.

The first evidence of the quake was a church propped up with girders that we saw from the airport bus. The area around our hostel seems relatively untouched, although there is building work going on. It wasn't until Friday that we really got a picture of how Christchurch is doing. We headed for the ReStart mall, a small collection of shops housed in brightly painted shipping containers. The quake destroyed the majority of Christchurch's shops, cafes, bars, banks, restaurants and offices and the ReStart project is a successful attempt to get retail businesses back on their feet. Most of the shops are boutiques with local fashion and design, along with a few independent food outlets. The whole place has a positive, bohemian feel and it's obviously a real lifeline for the tourists and locals alike. The area has been painted with bright cheery colours and beautiful plant pots are dotted about on the tramlines, a reminder of another amenity now long gone. It certainly needs the colour, and the artwork, as it would look like Bosnia in '94 otherwise. There is still spray paint on the glass doors of shops with the dates when the rescue teams cleared the buildings, the car park is a levelled patch of rubble where buildings once stood.

We wandered further around the red zone, the worst hit area, and were quite shocked at the extent of the damage. There are still large parts of the CBD closed off, buildings at risk of collapse awaiting their turn for demolition. The once- beautiful cathedral sits boarded up and stranded amongst its condemned neighbours, its future undecided. Another street once home to bars and restaurants shows buildings burnt out and crumbling. How many jobs were lost down that street at 12.50pm that day?

Around the corner they are building a new cathedral out of cardboard tubes and across from that sit 185 different chairs all painted white. Some are office chairs, there's a beanbag and a child's chair. There is one for each person who lost their lives. I got a bit choked up as we walked past the barren patch of concrete that used to be the Canterbury Television Studios. On the fence are messages and photographs to somebody's mum, or brother, or daughter who worked in the 6 storey building that collapsed and burned, taking 115 lives with it.

On first glance some of the buildings look in good nick, and then you realise floors aren't quite level, there are cracks about the window lintel and somehow the lines of the building don't quite look right.

We caught a bus out to Lyttelton on the coast which was just 2km from the epicentre. The town was cut off in the first few days as the roads were badly damaged, and about 60% of its main buildings were wrecked. They had a little farmers market running with cheerful flags. The produce was wonderful and there were a lot of people who'd come out to eat and shop, it really draws the community together, and as the lady in the tourist info said; it's a replacement for the supermarkets that got destroyed.

Back in Christchurch we went back to the container mall and listened to a busker called Graeme James doing folky cover songs. Lots of people were gathered around with food and hot drinks and there was quite a festival feeling. The area is obviously still hurt by what happened and the rebuilding is taking some time. It's so inspiring to see that progress is being forged from food, music, creativity and bringing the community together. It isn't about building a shiny new shopping mall so they can reopen Starbucks, it's about growing local businesses, mending historical buildings, showcasing local artists and being smart about what the city will look like in the future.

I have no idea what the Christchurch of 2023 will look like, but I'm pretty certain it won't be a glass and concrete metropolis. Hopefully the container mall will be preserved, or better still grown. I hope the busking spot won't be ruined by trams thundering through and the planters will still be painted yellow, purple and blue and filled with matching flowers. Hopefully the independent shops won't be lost amongst faceless high street brands that creep back in once the coast is clear. And I hope Lyttelton still holds a market on a Saturday morning. I guess we'll have to wait and see.