Landing in New Zealand I am now 18 hours ahead of Edmonton time. It feels a bit strange to be so far ahead of everyone else at home. I booked my flight into Christchurch last June when I booked my RTW ticket, before any of the major recent earthquakes. After hearing about the earthquake in February, I was a bit apprehensive as to what I would find landing here. I booked myself a couple of nights at one of the few open hostels and gave myself a day to sort out my plans for travelling New Zealand.
During our ride from the airport the shuttle driver pointed out piles of debris and buildings that were condemned to be torn down. We saw piles of rubble and beside it buildings that looked completely fine. It was crazy to see the damage in person, and meet all these people who live with earthquakes on a regular basis. The driver said that just the night before there had been a 4.1 magnitude earthquake. The entire CBD (Central Business District aka downtown area) has been shut down and fenced off, so we had to drive the long was around.
The hostel I stayed it was pretty cool, it was the old jailhouse converted into a hostel. It was surprisingly bright and open inside. It still had the similar layout of a jail, with rooms lining either sides of the upper and main floors, and a large open area in the centre.
I had one full day in Christchurch to sort out my travel plans (I arrived in New Zealand with only my Lonely Planet and about a month of travel time) and explore the city. I decided on a hop on hop off bus that looped through both islands because it was the cheapest way for me to travel and see most of the country along the way. I started with a loop around the south island and would then be then flying up to Auckland to do a loop through the north. With that settled I headed out to explore the city.
I headed over to the CBD and walked some of the perimeter. Stationed about every 200m were army guards to make sure that people weren’t sneaking in. They looked pretty bored with their job. A few were reading, and others had laptops out. I’m guessing that during the day they mostly just get curious tourists coming by to take a few photos. I was very tempted to ask if I could get a photo with one of them.
It was strange to see an entire city centre as a ghost town. There were a few crews inside the fenced area organizing things. From what I heard, the city was sending in construction crews to start clearing out the rubble. A guy I met at the hostel was planning on sticking around in Christchurch for a few months working with a construction crew. I met quite a few backpackers who were sticking around the city to work for a few months.
In the evening I went out for beers with a few people from the hostel, and while we were out we felt an earthquake. At first I didn’t even realize what was going on, but looking around the bar I could definitely see things shaking. It lasted only about 10 seconds, and apparently these aftershocks happen all the time.
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