Last Day in NZ

Most people try to spend a week to a month seeing NZ. Not us, we go for three days. It's been fast, but honestly I don't think we could do another day in Christchurch. This town has seen so much devastation with their earthquakes (there were actually three within a six month period back in 2010/2011) and they are slow to recover. The heart of their town is all but gone. You can hear the sadness when talking to any local. This has forever changed their home.

Today we did a double decker bus tour (Another one!) and saw different parts of the city, along with Sumner Beach. There was more "life" to these parts as they had either seen more rebuilding or escaped with less loss.

After the beach, we rode up into the hills only to see some of the most spectacular views I have ever seen...of natural, untouched land. Simply breathtaking. I mentioned to Adam that it's so hard to believe this is all the same place. A city marked with devastation at every block, only to be surrounded by nature in its most beautiful state. I know the pictures won't do it justice.

Before the double decker was the trolley. We are the ultimate tourists. I like to blame it on the boys.








I love this one...wonder & sorrow combined. This was a beautiful church, hundreds of years old.


The city is full of buildings like this. Old world charm, met with plaster, sheetrock, wall supports and condemned signs.





This was a 4 million dollar home on the way to the beach. Half of it is now at the bottom of the mountain.


Sumner Beach - very much reminded us of the Oregon Coast. Had there been blue skies, I'm sure the water would have been more blue.

















This was my view at lunch. HELL. I jumped out of my chair more times than I could count. In my head, there were thousands of seagulls. In looking at the picture, I may have overreacted a bit.


Headed up the hill...














While this was certainly not the trip to New Zealand we had imagined, we have had fun, learned a lot about this city and have seen some of the untouched beauty that exists in this country. Our RV trip remains on our bucket list for another time. We are excited to get back to Australia tomorrow and are very ready for 8 days in one place. :)