Muraltastic Otautahi!

Thursday 24 July

So we were up before sunrise on Thursday morning - taking Banjo in to DC&B for a couple of bits of work (we broke a bit and a bit failed, and we wanted the battery management system checked as it has done some flaky stuff over the past few months). Next stop was the Mitsubishi centre to get an AV screen replacement on the Pajero. Louis dropped me in town on the way there so I could spend the morning mural hunting. Since the quake there has been a movement called Gap Filler which has created murals and public art projects to brighten up the walls left by demolished or destroyed buildings. There are so many cool and varied designs. I was just wandering in the blocks south of Riverside Market around Colombo Street and found all the murals depicted in my photos below.

Many of the murals took inspiration from anime, manga, comic book heroes, sci-fi and movies. Some pieces were single images on a section of wall - others were panoramic across long sections of blank walls, creating a cohesive theme or narrative.

Some celebrated Kiwi heroes - the classic Ed Hillary portrait sized up onto the side of a carpark is very striking (this conqueror of Everest is so revered he was still being voted "Greatest Living New Zealander" five years after his death!) Ernest Rutherford, atom splitter extraordinaire also got his own wall tribute.

Science and progress lines up against pop art portraits.

There are many beautiful nature murals across Otautahi Christchurch, but not so many in this area - though these gorgeous birds caught my eye. The religious iconography on the right was a celebration spiritual nature worship - love, light and hope - quite a bizarre mash-up!

It was hard to capture the full glory of this Kiwiana panoramic mural as half of it was hiding behind parked cars - but it was a such a kiwi as celebration! Penguins, kiwi in an All Blacks outfit, cows, sheep, sheepdog, Santa on the beach and of course, the wizard of Christchurch!

Some of the murals were less art driven and more corporate - the Tradestaff building, HQ of the organisation which supplies tradies on contract to the building industry had completely enveloped its walls in work-appropriate murals by Wongi Wilson who painted the murals in the gun emplacements at Awaroa Godley Head. Comms cabinets on street corners also got a glow up!

This was one of my favourite walls - celebrating the history of street art... from the New York subway where is began in the 1980s with tagging on train carriages evolving into imagery and story telling. Then there were panels celebrating iconic imagery from the subsequent decades - 80s, 90s, the new millennium and beyond.

There was also a cat cafe - I didn't have the funds to go play with the kitties, even though this beauty was imploring me to come in and have a smooch!

Pajero work was eventually completed so we headed to Papanui so Louis could have a swim and I dropped off some op shop donations (and managed to only buy one item in exchange!) before a late lunch in the foodcourt then back to collect Banjo. I broke a 15 year drought and bought a loaded plate from the Hungry Wok, Chinese buffet staple of all kiwi mall foodcourts, but halfway through I realised why I had stopped eating it in the first place... looks delicious but largely tastes blah!

After several weeks on the road continually, in wet weather and along muddy roads, Banjo was looking absolutely filthy so we took her for a wash at the truck wash place - always a wet and messy job! Too busy, forgot the before and after shots - but believe me, the change was incredible!

Moved on to the Treehouse Retreat POP at Kaiapoi and settled in for the night. Love this spot - it’s so easy and good value with power and water on-site for just $20 a night!