Today started off with me saying goodbye to Rachel. One of the hardest goodbyes of the trip, but I'm sure we will meet again! Only me and Laura are left! Everyone has told us Christchurch is boring, because there is nothing to do after the earthquake hit. We didn't want to sit around and waste the day so we went out and went on a bus tour!
The bus took us around the main points of interest and even took us inside the red zone! It really is like the Blitz has been through the city! Building after building reduced to rubble. Church spires at ground level, windows smashed, whole buildings leaning and pavements ruined. The horrible thing is, that this happened almost 2 and a half years ago, and they have been cleaning up ever since... Imagine what it looked like the day it happened!
We got off the bus knowing much more about the quakes and the damaged it caused. So we decided to take a closer look at a few things we drove past. We went to have coffee in a recently reopened part of the city, which was still surrounded by wreckage. After coffee we saw the memorials for those 185 people who lost their lives, and then we visited the cardboard cathedral. We both then went around a brilliant little shopping centre. It's made of shipping containers and has sides cut out and replaced with glass. It had a brilliant vibe, and you can really tell the city is trying hard to keep things going. Once the shopping was done we went to the Quake City museum for an hour or two, looking at exhibits before going back to the hostel and eating in for a change. All in all a very busy day, but very informative and I'm glad we made the most of it!