A Little More Around Christchurch

We're getting ready to travel up to the Marlborough Sounds, Nelson and Golden Bay areas, but have been enjoying our time in Christchurch as Paul's first six-week term at University of Canterbury ends.  The mornings have been warmer overall and spring is coming, with the first daffs (daffodils, to those in the USA) now seen in the parks and the farmers' markets.

We went to an exhibit at the Canterbury Museum on the Whole House Reuse project.  An entire house that was damaged in the 2010-2011 earthquakes was dismantled, all of the component parts were categorized, and then various pieces were chosen by artists and craftspeople, and transformed into artistic and functional artifacts.  This Monday many of the art works are being auctioned off to raise money for two local charitable projects.



Cindy is enjoying her weekly hiking trips with several Christchurch friends.

We continue to enjoy discovering edgy signs around town.

What better slogan for a temp work agency?

We went to a photo exhibition displaying photos for the New Zealand Geographic photographer of the year 2015 competition.  There's not a lot of gallery space in Christchurch right now, so the display is held outdoors during the day, in unused shipping containers and on display blocks.  Especially interesting was a newer category for videos, using recent camera tracking technology to allow slow panning across the sky, the forest, the sea, and human activity.  You can see the best photos and videos through the link above.

Reconstruction continues in Christchurch.  One of our friends commented that the orange cone people must be doing a huge business.  A recent newspaper article stated that there's $100 million NZD spent each week on reconstruction right now, with multiple buildings opening or reopening each day.  In addition to all of the building work, roads get fixed up and sometimes are torn up again for more improvements or changes, or for laying fiber optic communication cable.  We and many others were happy to see a new wing of the central bus transfer station opened up this week.

Cones are everywhere in Christchurch

New wing of the central bus station

One of the outdoor art pieces that somehow survived the earthquakes

On Friday night we went with two friends to a concert by Li'l Chuck, a local one-man skiffle machine band.  He plays resonator guitar, harmonica or kazoo, high-hat cymbal and bass drum at the same time, and sings if he doesn't have another instrument in his mouth.  Good local music is always fun, but seeing it in the Orange Studio production and performance space created by music and theater maestro Michael Bell, son of our computer science friend and host Tim Bell, was an extra treat.

On Saturday we traveled to Sydenham, an inner suburb of Christchurch.  We went looking for a bakery/cafe (found, quite good) and a garage sale (closed up by the time we got there), but the main attraction, at least for Paul, was The Beer Library - a craft beer shop recently opened by a couple from Canada and the USA.  They happened to be hosting a tasting session for Craftwork Brewery, an Oamaru based brewery specializing in Belgian-influenced ales.  Paul was happy...

Tasting session at the Beer Library

Craftwork Brewing owners and a friend

The couple who own The Beer Library

Enough cooler space for many interesting beers

There are always more murals to discover around Christchurch - including this one featuring a tui, a NZ bird with a wonderful varied and squawky metallic call.