First Day in New Zealand

We arrived at Christchurch Airport on time this morning (thank goodness), then spent a bit of time having our walking boots and golf shoes checked for cleanliness (we are not allowed to import dirt!) and then collecting our hire car.  Our B&B is less than 10 minutes from the airport and is very comfortable;  the owners, Sue & Robin were very welcoming.  Having freshened up, we decided to drive into Christchurch to have a look see.  Sounds simple, but not quite as easy as that.  Many of the central roads are closed and a new one way system (newer than the sat nav) takes one round the areas that you cannot enter.  As there are still aftershocks, rebuilding has not started in earnest.  There are 'car parks' on the sites of demolished buildings and, in an effort to get people back into the town, the main shopping mall has been replaced by shops set up in ships containers (albeit now brightly painted and with one metal side replaced with glass).  You cannot get close to the cathedral (which is in the 'red' zone).  Sadly it is the older buildings that suffered as they had not been built to withstand tremors.  The photo on the left is taken from one end of where the main shopping mall was;  the cathedral square (the centre of the city) is some 300m to the left.  The buildings in the picture are unoccupied and, as you can see, some are being knocked down, others repaired.  The emptiness of the area is quite spooky and a stark reminder of the power of nature!  Back to the B&B afterwards as we are running out of steam after another overnight flight (without much sleep!) and the 5 hour time difference from Singapore.  It will be early dinner and early bed for us - with a quiet word before sleep to ask for the wind to be turned off tomorrow for our golf (presently it is very windy outside, but 25 degrees, and the course here has lots of lakes which will challenge our stock of balls.)  Hope all are well;  will be thinking of Lexi tomorrow and trusting that all will go well with her op.