Christchurch Chores & Dinner in Timaru

Monday 3 March

Lots of chores - again - on our last day in Ōtautahi Christchurch before heading south to Timaru.

First jobs were getting quotes because the Pajero got badly scratched in a carpark on the day before. While Louis was chatting with the bodywork guys I had a wee wander and marvelled at the new stadium being erected in the heart of the city. It's predecessor, Lancaster Park, was irreparably damaged in the February 2011 quake and demolished in 2019 so it's about time a new one was sorted!

I was also rather enamoured of the Community House nearby with its fancy panelling, pick your own veggies planting boxes and the lovely pavement painting - it is only now that I realise the design in the panelling is actually a map of central Ōtautahi Christchurch with the River Avon meandering through and the grey icon in the centre representing the badly damaged and now condemned Anglican cathedral.

Other interesting architecture in the area included the triple arch porches that have become a big thing on newbuild apartments since the quake - are they aesthetic or structurally relevant? And the prevalence of varied building material choices - brickwork was the first to fall in the quake - many are choosing to rebuild with rusted metal panels and glasswork - but this doesn't feel any safer in a quake setting to my eyes?

Once the Pajero had been inspected, we took an excursion to Lyttelton for a coffee & a wander - going through the tunnel under the Port Hills and emerging in the cool port community, and home of Marlon Williams, on the other side. No sign of my Kiwi music hero today, but I did book tickets to see him in Dunedin in June which is exciting!

Lyttleton has a lovely vibe - down at the waterfront is a fully working port with huge ships loaded with timber and containers heading in and out, but 2-3 streets back are coffee shops, artisan stores, retro outlets and a bunch of street art. Another famous son of Lyttelton is Bill Hamilton whose huge mural covers the wall of the Lyttelton Art Factory. His work is quite fascinating with weird and wonderful bird creatures, reminiscent of Dante's Inferno works of old illustrators, but with a modern focus on environment, vulnerability of life and humanity as an endangered species.

A little early to see the Timeball fall at 1pm as it does every day, we climbed the hill to the west of the main township to check out this Victorian tower. The Timeball tower and station were built in 1876 and the Timeball dropped every day on the dot of 1pm from then until 1934 - establishing universal time for mariners. The station and original tower were destroyed in the 2010 & 2011 quakes with much of the stonework and the ball tumbling down the cliff in front. The tower has been rebuilt and the Timeball restored, with improved zinc cladding and an all-new automated mechanism. A pou created by mana whenua, Ngāti Wheke, now stands alongside the reinstated Timeball tower, a visual symbol of the long history of maritime navigation in Aotearoa.

Just as we were about to leave Lyttelton, I spotted this poster filled window in the local cooperative store and I fell in love with the place - this reminds me of the friendly neighbourhood store and post office of my childhood with so many fun local groups, activities, causes and services being advertised!

Soon we were heading back to town for Louis to give plasma - it tickled me to see that the 4 cars parked outside were all blood red... quite an achievement for a nation fixated by silver and black vehicles! Next stop was Evo to collect our serviced (and hopefully fixed) Ebikes and out to MYOB to collect our original TV from Josh.

Back to NZMCA we hitched up Banjo in the pouring rain & headed south down the coast to Timaru where we parked up at the Phar Lap Racecourse then whizzed into town for an awesome dinner at The Oxford - nom nom! 🤩