Botanic gardens, Christchurch City

We arranged to meet with Gill, a colleague of Carol's from RBH days, in town at the Hagley park and botanical gardens. The gardens cover several acres, with the river Avon winding through, full of mature trees, and planted beds, ponds and sculptures.

It is hot here in Christchurch today, 27' and we needed sunscreen and hats.

We took a stroll around for a couple of hours with Gill and her delightful girls, Emily and Maddie.

Beautiful hydrangeas in the gardens

Many of the sculptures in Christchurch have a symbolic significance around the devastating earthquake of 2011, and this one is entitled "Regret" which shows a blindfolded woman trying to find her way in the dark with disembodied faces out of reach.

There are other poignant installations in the town such as the empty white chairs, representing those who died in the tragedy, high chairs, ordinary chairs and wheelchairs, all in white, and facing the same way.

The Cathedral has been replaced by a temporary structure, holding the site for eventual rebuilding called the "Cardboard Cathedral". It is not well liked by the residents while the church and the town planners argue over the plans for the new Cathedral.

Gill was working in the hospital when the earthquake hit on 22 February 2011, and the oncology department became a temporary A&E entrance for the injured as the emergency services worked to restore power and water supplies.

In the afternoon we took a long walk around the city, taking in the lovely sculptures of the dyslexia institute. I love the muddled words flowing out of the open book.

Christchurch has a lovely vintage tram service.

The funky container mall, built of recycled shipping containers, consists of shops and cafés, and very innovative use of the metal boxes and sculptures.

Interacting with the welded sculpture.

After the earthquake, the police turned a blind eye to some of the large scale graffiti artists and later encouraged more of it, provided it was of a good quality. It has brightened up the city scape.

The cardboard cathedral was designed by the Japanese emergency architect, Shigeru Ban. After the Kobe earthquake in Japan, he designed a cardboard church to replace the one destroyed there, and offered to do the same for Christchurch. It is made of cardboard, laminated wood, and with a metre thick polished concrete floor.

It is the safest and most earthquake resistant building in Christchurch and designed to last 50 years.

The design is very simple, with cardboard tubes soaring up to the central line of the church, and the walls of of recycled shipping containers.

It seats nearly 700 people, and has a cardboard central cross.

Outside the cardboard cathedral is the 185 empty white chair monument, on 185 square metres of grass, commemorating the 185 lives lost immediately in the earthquake.

Peter Majendie's work includes a wheelchair, baby chairs and garden chairs, representing the distinct ages and personalities of the lives lost, and the grass represents the new growth and regeneration of the city. Although a temporary installation, it deserves to stay in a permanent home somehow. It is strangely very moving, and reminds us that we will all lose someone we love someday.

Walking back to the botanic garden we paused by some of the enormous trees, one so big you can walk into it's centre.

Our day ended with an evening walk on New Brighton beach and a short visit to the limestone sculpture gardens on the roadside at New Brighton with our host Linda, and her friend John.