Christchurch

About a month ago, Rob and I went for a little weekend trip to Christchurch to visit my Dad. Rob had never been and I had, but when I was about 5 years old. Safe to say, we were both pretty excited to be going! PLUS, I was going to see my Dad.

We seriously had the best time. The first day we went off to Hamner Springs (about an hour and a half drive) and we were greeted with the most beautiful sights! The pools were lovely and it was pretty hard to leave.

Then, the next day we ended up going to Akaroa (about an hour drive South East of Christchurch.) When we left it was a bit cloudy but by the time we got there, the weather was perfect. Akaroa, simply put, is stunning. It's hard to believe that you can go only an hour out of Christchurch and view the most wonderful New Zealand scenery.

Then we had a walk around the city of Christchurch. Now, as most of you know, a couple of years Christchurch was hit with the most devastating round of Earthquakes (that are still continuing now.) Of course we had heard about it and seen the pictures/video footage on the news but nothing can really prepare you for the real sites of destruction. Most of the damaged buildings had been taken down, with nothing left but rubble. It was probably one of the deadest cities I have seen.

However, they seem to be making the most of having to start from scratch. There is a new mall called the Restart Mall which is pretty much just a whole lot of brightly painted shipping containers that have been converted into shops. It is seriously so cool! I really hope they keep it because it is so different from anything I have ever seen.

It was such a great weekend away - I love seeing more of New Zealand. The scenery was beautiful and it was great to get down to Christchurch and see what was happening with the rebuild of the city.