This morning I had to return my hire car to the rental company near the airport. I had driven over 2,000 miles in the 27 days I'd had her. After all this time I had just about managed to remember which side the indicator and wipers were on. Of course when I get home they will be on the opposite sides again.
Leigh gave me a lift to central Christchurch and dropped me at the museum. As it was pouring down with rain I decided to go for a coffee first.
Dodging showers all day I walked around the CBD taking pictures, looking at the shops and the damage done by the earthquake more than 4 years ago.
There seemed to be building work going on everywhere repairing the earthquake damage. Also there are lots of shipping containers stacked up against buildings to stop them falling down.
On 4th September 2010 a 40 second, 7.1 magnitude earthquake centred 40km west of the city - no fatalities. Then at 12.51pm on 22nd February 2011 a 6.3 magnitude quake hit, centred just 10km southeast of the city.
185 deaths (across 20 nationalities) 115 deaths occurred in the 6 storey Canterbury TV building. Today this site is completely flat, roped off with just one coffin in the middle. I found this very moving and sad. There is also another site which has 185 empty white chairs. I for each person who died, this includes a baby's car seat and a wheelchair. Also very sad. The "start up" shopping mall is made up of containers.