Jess is a Wanderer spent a day wandering around Christchurch. Despite the awful earthquake of 2011, the city is very much repairing, rebuilding and recovering from the damage. A colourful, quirky city - I had a really lovely time mooching around.
Whether you're into fresh food from around the world, funky street art, beautiful gardens or mingling with the locals in a park - Christchurch has it all. We stumbled around the city with no plan of where to go or what to see. We found a shipping container food court (do those places have real names?!) and ate some delicious burritos as we admired various works of street art scattered around the streets.
The architecture is absolutely worth seeing, the destruction from the earthquake, the rebuilding and the renovations that are taking place. There's something for every interest and the buildings all vary from each other with all their funky colours.
The Botanical Gardens were a definite highlight whilst in Christchurch. Can't say I'm much of a gardener (mainly due to not having a home... or a garden!) But I did appreciate the landscaping, colourful flowers and lakes which were dotted around. You can follow the river, enjoy the sights and generally have a rather relaxing time in the middle of this bustling city. Definitely not to be missed.
For an additional highlight, look out for locals in the park. We came across a group who enjoy spinning things - they had hula hoops, poi, juggling apparatus and ropes which they were using in a manner of ways on this lazy Sunday afternoon. We were welcomed to join in and had a grand old time with the hula hoops.
Christchurch, you rocked!