Christchurch - an unplanned stop

Tuesday, January 10, 2023
Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand
Our final stop was Christchurch. We hadn’t planned on this stop as we were meant to be in Rotarua for the day.
With 3 days on the ship ahead of us, we were keen to spend every possible minute off the ship today, so we booked a private tour.
The ship docked in Lyttelton.  As a landing point for Christchurch-bound seafarers, Lyttelton has historically been regarded as the "Gateway to Canterbury" for colonial settlers. Until the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, the port has been a regular destination for cruise ships. It is the South Island's principal goods-transport terminal, handling 34% of exports and 61% of imports by value.
In 2009 Lyttelton was awarded Category I Historic Area status by the Historic Places Trust defined as "an area of special or outstanding historical or cultural heritage significance or value".
We were one of the very first people off the ship to join our guided commentary tour through the city of Christchurch.
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / Ōtākaro flows through the centre of the city, with an urban park along its banks. The city's territorial authority population is 389,300 people, and includes a number of smaller urban areas as well as rural areas. The population of the urban area is 377,900 people. Christchurch is the second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand, after Auckland
The city suffered a series of earthquakes between September 2010 and January 2012, with the most destructive occurring at 12.51 p.m. on 22 February 2011, in which 185 people were killed and thousands of buildings across the city suffered severe damage, with a few central city buildings collapsing. By late 2013, 1,500 buildings in the city had been demolished, leading to ongoing recovery and rebuilding projects. The city later became the site of a terrorist attack targeting two mosques on 15 March 2019, in which 51 people were killed, and which was described by the Prime MinisterJacinda Ardern, as "one of New Zealand's darkest days".
 Christchurch seems like a lovely city and the redevelopment projects will certainly revitalize the city Centre. We drove past Cathedral Square and the anchor projects such as the Convention Centre.
We then drove to Hamner Springs via beautiful scenery. The resort town of Hanmer Springs is an attractive year-round holiday destination for adventure and relaxation. Surrounded by dramatic mountains and towering forests, this charming town has a main street filled with boutique shops, cafes and eateries.
We visited the Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools and Spa with 22 different outdoor thermal pool and water slides. It was lovely here - some of the pools were 40 degrees! The sun was shining and it was so nice to be off the ship enjoying the thermal waters and sun!
Our next stop was a winery - Waipara Springs. We had a couple of hours here for lunch and wine tasting and it was a very enjoyable stop in the warmth and sunshine!
Back to Christchurch we saw some of the outer lying areas in the Red Zone which were damaged by the earthquake and subsequently completely cleared and shown where the epicenter was.
We arrived back into Lyttelton to catch the shuttle back to the port. And now for over 3 days and 4 nights at sea on our floating RSL :)

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2025-02-11

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