I spent three days in Christchurch filling in time and not having to be anywhere at all if I didn’t want to. So, I spent my time walking the city streets, as well as exploring the Port Hills and discovering suburbs like Lyttelton and Sumner. It was while walking through Christchurch’s city centre that I decided upon three things.
Firstly, I only have a very vague idea of what Christchurch looked like before the 2011 earthquake. I wish I could say I know the city well, but the truth is I haven’t really spent enough time in it to really have much knowledge of its keys features. Unless of course you count being able to find Hagley Park, the former Lancaster Park and the Avon River!
Secondly, I have completely no idea how’d you go about rebuilding a city. Honestly, where do you start? Is it similar to Monopoly where you divide the streets into colour-groups before you allow people to buy houses from the Bank?
Lastly, I really like cities that have trams! Or, to be more accurate, I really like the idea of trams! In Christchurch it used to be an extensive network with steam and horse trams operating from 1882 which were then replaced with electric trams that ran from 1905 to 1954. In 1995, the central city loop heritage tram was reopened in the central city as a tourist attraction.