Stay to the left!

Today marks our last day in Christchurch before heading up to our home and job up in Murchison. We figured since we have to drive 3 hours to get there tomorrow, we should probably attempt to practice driving on the left side of the road.  Surprisingly, not as hard as I thought! Aside from the fact that speed is in kilometers and that the blinkers and windshield wipers are reversed, we got the hang of it pretty quickly. Although we did have Rick with us the whole time to let us know when we were acting like Americans. Were not terrible but not pros yet by any means...lets just say our windshield is very clean.

Yesterday was the most beautiful day I've seen in awhile. It's getting to be the end of springtime here and its at that perfect time where you can wear shorts and a t-shirt and not be too hot or too cold. Rick took us into the city where we walked a couple miles through Christchurch Botanical Gardens. The gardens are about 52 acres of exotic flowers, plants and trees right in the middle of the city along the Avon River. Walking through it you wouldn't even think there was a city remotely close by. It was the most peaceful, beautiful place I think I've ever walked through. I felt like I was in some sort of fairy tale. There was a different tree, flower, or plant every step you took. I saw flowers that I didn't even know existed...there was even a rose garden where there was 250 different types of roses! 

After an hour or two walking through the Gardens, we walked more towards downtown Christchurch where we stopped to have lunch at the Boat Shed Cafe. It was a cute little cafe right along the Avon River where kayakers and punters paddled by every few minutes or so. Kind of felt like we were along a river in Italy. The only downfall to our picturesque lunch was the price of the food! One thing we've noticed is that New Zealand is not exactly a cheap place to live. My salad was $18, coffee is almost  $4 and gas is about $6 a gallon! I at first thought it was cheap when I saw $2 on the gas station sign but then realized that was per liter..not gallon. Yikes. Good thing we have jobs over here or else we'd be in some serious trouble. 

Lunch along the Avon River

After lunch, we headed into the city where most of the damage from February's earthquake is. I couldn't get over how detrimental it was to the city and to the people who live here. You hear about natural disasters abroad and you sympathize and you try to help as best as you can, but you truly can't understand how terrible of a disaster it is until you are right there looking at it. It's unbelievable how many buildings were destroyed and how many still need to be taken down. Its crazy how many people lost jobs and it was pretty surreal standing in the streets that are still blocked off 9 months after the quake happened.

Chapel damaged by the earthquake

Even though many residents of the city have had to leave because of the lack of jobs, the people still here are extremely resilient and proactive in rebuilding their city. One of the coolest things we saw was a street of stores that was rebuilt using old containers. 

Block of stores made out of old containers

We attempted to go to the Antarctic center today to see some penguins and such but entry fee was $65...not in our budget. Hoping to see some wild penguins later this year. Sun is out after a little afternoon rain, so we are off to the beach!