Road work & Lyttelton

It’s winter in Christchurch, but a few flowers continue to bloom.

We live on Waimairi Road which is quite busy, having almost continuous car traffic that generally doesn't stop for pedestrians.  Students who are taking education classes need to cross from the regular U of Canterbury side of the road to the Dovedale side, and Paul needs to cross the other way to get to the computer science building.  Recently someone had the good idea to put in lights so pedestrians could cross without risking their lives.  Work has been going on since we arrived and good progress is being made.  Sidewalks here are made of asphalt; one of the photos shows a worker flattening the new asphalt with a roller.

Paul crossing Waimairi Road

Thursday we took the city bus to the harbour city of Lyttelton, a suburb in the hills on the outskirts of Christchurch.  Many Lyttelton buildings were badly damaged in the 2010-2011 earthquakes.  Now buildings have been torn down and a few new ones built.  Years ago, an old church had been moved to another city.  That original church has been returned to replace a destroyed church.  Apparently no working toilets are inside the church, but instead mobile porta potties are provided.

Note the web site name at the bottom

We didn’t go to the All Blacks vs Argentina rugby game last night (it was sold out even if we had wanted tickets).  Instead we reconnected with friends at Farandol International Folk Dancing.

Saturday we walked to the Riccarton Farmer’s Market which has lots of prepared foods, baked goods, flowers, meat, cheese, beer and of course fruits and veggies.  The Bacon Bros. truck staff was busy making breakfast for customers.