If you ever decide to go to New Zealand, be ready. It's like being in a really intense episode of "Border Security". I have never been grilled at customs like we were upon entering Christchurch. Then, after getting through the third degree and picking up our luggage, we were asked again if we had any food on us, then our bags were x-rayed, then the sniffer dog came to check them. Like, wow.
It's been a bit of a blur since last night. We got in really late, then had to wake up to fit in as much as we could since we only had one day in Christchurch. I want to say it's a nice place, and I'm sure it is, but looking around at the empty lots, the crumbling buildings, the steel girders bracing walls, and the abundant amount of scaffolding, it makes me kind of sad, like we're looking at a war zone. Of course, having to rebuild after a major earthquake is going to take time, just like any place that's recovering from a natural disaster (think Haiti). And they've come up with some interesting ways of dealing with it for now. The Re:START Mall is a shopping centre built out of shipping containers.
The main cathedral was seriously damaged.
So they build the Cardboard Cathedral. Literally.
I'm still glad I made a stop here. But no time to waste. Next stops: Aoraki/Mount Cook and Queenstown.
"Pretty soon I'll be getting on my first plane, I'll see the veins of my city like they do in space"
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