from Southland to earthquake devastated Christchurch

From Invercargill, we carried on along the Southern Scenic Route and the Caitlins Coast. Even though the weather was a little overcast, the scenery was still amazing…

… and we continued to Purakanui Falls…

 … and on to Kaka Point and Nugget Point…

… then finishing the day in Dunedin. It has often been said that Dunedin has the best preserved Victorian and Edwardian buildings and it did feel like we had stepped back into the 1960’s.

The city is also home to one of the largest universities in NZ, the University of Otago, and the number of students about testified to this. Saturday morning was perfect for a nice walk into town and a visit to the local farmer’s market and tasting the local produce, including some great cheese from Whitestone. We also visited the Speight’s Ale House and tried all of their brews – a very nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon J

The next day saw us continuing our journey up the east coast to Oamaru, the main centre of the Waitaki District. The town is renowned for its Victorian precinct and harbour…

… and Steampunk HQ, where Victorian era is fused with the future (think Back to the Future III)

From Oamaru, we carried on up highway 1 then took the inland Scenic Route 72 from Temuka up past Mt Hutt in the Mid Canterbury district. Unfortunately, the weather was against us and all the mountains were hidden in the clouds for all bar two minutes when the sun shone through and showed us the tops of beautiful mountains before closing up again. We did see the level of destruction that the recent storms had caused with huge uprooted trees and debris all across the plains as we headed up towards Christchurch.

Talking of destruction, a large part of Christchurch was devastated by a number of earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. There is an eerie feeling in the CBD area as there weren’t many people around as I would expect in a major city. Instead, sounds of jack hammers and bulldozers are everywhere as the rubble is still being cleared away. We did a walking tour with a local lady, so got a history lesson too. Having seen the photos of what the city used to be like it was heartbreaking to see many old buildings in such a state:

The Cathedral

The Arts Centre

        

And Starbucks has seen better days:

Having said that, the city is making a comeback and New Regent street was one of the first to get back on its feet

And the Re-start Mall, where shops are made out of shipping containers and look quite funky:

It’s also known as the Garden city and the parks were in full spring bloom and looked lovely

It was a wet day today, so we went to the Air Force Museum and learnt all about NZs history and the part they played since flying began.

Tomorrow we head to Akaroa and the Banks Peninsula before continuing our journey north.