Next day was a day for journeying for we had to beat it back to Auckland to catch a plane down to South Island. We again avoided Hamilton on the way north and this time, avoided Mrs Mac's pies too. Then a nice easy flight to Christchurch lasting about an hour and a quarter. As you fly in, the plane banks over various mountain ranges and, on our first visit they were snow covered and I thought they were the Southern Alps filmed extensively in LOTR. This time around there was no snow and, anyway, my geography is better.
There were six of us now. Niles and Heather had joined us. We were in fairly late but not so late that Heather, Niles and I could miss out on a walk across town to 'Dux de Lux' to sample their Ginger Tom once again. The recipe has been changed folk! It's now stronger in ginger and weaker in alcohol. We could only squeeze in one jug. Niles went for another but they stopped serving at 11. We also fell for a plate of wedges between us. Their own specialty called Buffalo Chips.
Night time was a lot of fun. It was a low price apartment in the middle of town and we soon found out why it was so much cheaper on Friday and Saturday. The night club next door turned out the last of it headbangers at 5am! Not to worry. We were tired enough to sleep right through the thumping and howling.
Quick comment on what we saw of the damage to Christchurch. It really took a shaking. There are whole areas of street front fenced off with the businesses behind the fences closed down until the repairs are completed. Chimney stacks are down everywhere. Some walls are braced by massive timbers to stop them coming down in the next tremor. Our building, 'Living Space', was cracked in many places but the damage was all minor. The quake was about 3 months ago but the whole city still shows signs of damage here and there.
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