Exploring Christchurch

Our flight from Brisbane landed in Christchurch. I had only booked us two nights here before we started our road trip around the South Island of New Zealand.

After only having one day to explore I now wish we had spent longer here. It is such a quaint city, even after all of the devastation of the 2011 earthquake, of which the city is yet to fully recover from.

After quite a bit of deliberation on choosing motels or caravan parks in the weeks leading up to our trip. I decided that we would go with the motel option for the vast majority of our accommodation in New Zealand. I am ever so thankful that I made that choice now.

We stayed at the Amross Court Motel, whilst in Christchurch. Our family of five always needed a two bedroom unit, with one child sleeping on a roll away or fold out sofa lounge in the living area. This worked well for us.

The motel was clean, comfortable and spacious. It was a good 15 minute walk from the CBD, but there were a small handful of stores close by.

After a good nights sleep we made the leisurely stroll into the CBD, wandering through parklands and along the Avon River.

Seeing wild daisies growing on the banks of the river was wonderful, they were everywhere. So small and delicate.

Of course we had to try our hand at blowing some of the little daisies as far as we could.

It is still painfully obvious that Christchurch has a way to go with rebuilding their beautiful city. Whilst there is a great deal of construction going on and new buildings dotted throughout the city. There are also several vacant blocks where buildings had to be demolished and of course the cathedral, that they are painstakingly rebuilding.

One of the larger vacant blocks is home to a market area of sorts, where the city has arranged art installations to occupy some of the space and pretty it up somewhat.

The CBD's main shopping and eating areas, the mall, are housed in the new ReStart area, with each store working from within a shipping container. It was a bustling hive of activity and the shipping container concept is a great one.

I do look forward to the day I can return to Christchurch and spend more time exploring everything it has to offer.

Happy Travels,
Kylie