Jen Hillam: Picton to Christchurch

The morning came sooner than I had hoped but I was still so excited to head down the east coast of the island. It was off to a grand start as our hospitable hosts of Tombstone gave us free breakfast. Josh and Marian picked up our rental car, a reasonable sized sedan, and we were on our way. Four Americans with a map atlas I had checked out from the library and no driving experience on the left side of the road it was a bit worrisome at first. Our increasing gracious host, Lynn from tombstone directed us to the best places to stop on our way to Christchurch. We took a sort of scenic route and stopped some incredible lookouts. We wound around on a gravel road that went along some of the sounds and were a bit scared we had taken the wrong way. Coming from the states none of us really has experienced a gravel road as being a major road, but I trusted our atlas and was relieved to see the east coast emerge. As we got onto a real highway we settled in for a long day on the road. It was a beautiful drive along the ocean with rolling green hills followed by large rocky cliffs. For lunch we stopped at a cafe on the coast in Kekerengu and I tried my first Ginger beer, don’t worry mom it is not alcohol. I loved the cafe set up and would probably recommend it for a destination wedding spot in the summer ha ha. Further along the way, we stopped at a waterfall about a 4 minute walk away from the highway by Half Moon Bay and got to see a large colony of baby seals swimming and playing in the waterfall. Down the road we stopped at what is supposedly one of the best places to watch seals, dolphins and whales, Kaikoura. We hung out on the rocky beach for awhile and stretched our legs and skipped rocks as we waited for any sign of wildlife. On account of sitting in car all morning, it wasn’t long until our bladders limited our patience and we left to go find a gas station.

As we continued, our drive turned inland. What was ocean turned into large green pastures full of sheep and random rows of trees. It was windy with loads of hills as it finally flatted out as we reached our destination, Christchurch. I had underestimated the size of the city, and was very surprised as we drove through large suburban areas. Finally as we got closer to the city centre the evidence of the earthquakes was everywhere. It became a game, who could spot the most rubble. In the major areas with big buildings it was still everywhere. There were cracks through large buildings and house. Many windows were replaced by cardboard. We attempted to navigate the crazy one way streets to get into the very centre of the city where the famed cathedral once stood and many other historical buildings only to be met by sign after sign of “road closed”. The middle seven blocks of the city were completely shut off and caution tape, scaffolding, and construction equipment hid any hope of a view into the heart of Christchurch. The most recent major earthquake was all the way back in June and another in February, but so much damage and so much confusion with the government has left this town waiting to rebuild, not to mention the 3 to 4 small earthquakes a day continually reminding people of the power of mother nature. Lynn had warned us, and it was true, the heart of Christchurch has been broken with the quakes.

After driving around a few circles (there really are roundabouts everywhere here!) we finally made it to our obscurely located hostel next to the pier. Daylight was fading fast but it didn’t matter too much as all the famous sites and popular locations hadn’t been open for months. So we decided to take this new found free time to do some grocery shopping and make a nice dinner. We decided on a group favourite, chicken parmesan and cupcakes. A bit of confusion at the hostel left us waiting about 3 hours before we could finally use the oven, but dinner finally reached our growling tummies. Afterwards we played some cards as we waited for our cupcakes to bake. There was only a 6 cupcake tray so we ended up making 5 enormous cupcakes. Slap some chocolate frosting on top and we had a very sweet treat that was impossible to eat all at once.

After hyping ourselves up on sugar, we needed to release some energy and went for a late night stroll to the pier. It was a chilly night but we had a good time as we walked out over the ocean, walked along the beach and played on the playground nearby. The sounds of the waves crashing the whole time just added to the calming atmosphere of bright stars on the cool crisp night. We finally headed in knowing the morning would be an early one and we had another long day of driving as we left the once lively town of Christchurch.