TRAM.

 A new cafe for coffee this morning, a whole 10m from the one we tried yesterday. The flat white quality is pretty high down here, so that’s a plus. After finally asking the hotel manager how to turn on the dishwasher we got the answer. It was quite obvious but we must not be intelligent enough. One button later the dishwasher had sprung to life.

More fruit salad, yoghurt and cereal for breakfast. No lunch packed since we were staying close to the city centre where the apartment is and the tram track is right outside. 

After lots of yelling we got on the tram and listened to the conductor who told us about the sights of Christchurch city. We got off on stop one deciding to do some sight seeing. Dad had some ideas for photos but the kids declined the offer to be in them. 


We then went to see the big rotunda. The rotunda was there because white people like their rotundas and because the white people had been in Christchurch for 50 years.

Thomas Edmonds of the Rotunda




After that we decided to meet the man himself, Captain James Cook. He was a bit battered up from the upset locals including a big red x across his torso. To the left of the rotunda there was an empty patch where the PGC building used to be. (The PGC building was a high rise office building 5 stories high which was devastated by the 2011 earthquake.)
A couple minutes later and a nice stroll we had made it to the town hall with a brutalist style (think Auckland Uni Science Building) there were some nice architectural fountains. Then we saw some wooden arches in the style of gothic revival. Finally we made it to the statue of Queen Victoria, erected soon after her death. It was a 1 ½ sized model of herself.

We got back on the tram and went to the Riverside Market where we were hoping to find the giant gluten free chocolate eclairs, but they only made them on Mondays and Wednesdays. We decided to cut our losses and get a millionaire crunch, coconut rough and ginger slice. Lots and lots of sugar. After exploring the food in the market we decided to go to the other non food side. At the end of lots of talking we got a Christmas bunny (for the wreath) and a blue penguin artwork (for Jonty's wall).

We figured that it was time to get back on the tram but it was full so we walked to what would have been our next stop. Logan took a while trying to find a shirt but to no avail we gave up. After getting greeted by the locals we caught the tram back home for a quick lunch of sandwiches and Al Jazeera news. We got back out and went to the art gallery after it was recommended by lots of people. The only one who actually liked it was Dad. It was a quality art gallery, with many interesting exhibits, but it was tiring.

A short tram ride later we reached Quake City which is a museum about earthquakes in Chch. The museum was very interactive (unlike the art gallery.) There was a seismic calculator where you jumped and it calculated your seismic activity. There was also a liquefaction simulator, and a bike that if you pedalled started a short film, about how these bikes help in the earthquakes. One of the boys decided to get a new hat because he left his hat at home in Auckland.

We never did the full circuit on the tram, so never got the full commentary. Exhibit movie watching and hat buying saw two trams sail past and we had to get on one pretty soon if we were going to make it. We got out to the stop with no tram in sight, were joined by a party of 15, and another of four, the rain started and once the tram arrived it was too full for any of us. Our accommodation was 20m up the road and we decided to call it quits.  The last hours of the day were spent watching stuff, eating food, and ice cream.




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