We had not realised the devastation that we would find in Christchurch. The city was hit by two earthquakes in October 2010 and February 2011. In the down town area 1,700 buildings are being pulled down, so far 1,500 are down. A few buildings are being preserved and propped up with huge scaffolding and in some cases shipping containers full of stones and sand. The only major building surviving is the museum which was excellent and next to a wonderful botanic gardens. We did an open bus tour which was mostly pointing out where buildings had been. All the sewers and underground pipes are also destroyed so huge infrastructure projects also underway. No buildings will be built over 6 stories in future.