Devastated beauty

The heart of Christchurch is one of few places in New Zealand that looks old … this is a fairly young country compared to, say, Europe.  The city centre had a good collection of buildings that made New Zealand look like it had some architectural history.  Unfortunately a lot of this was destroyed in the earthquake of February this year.

We drove around the “red zone” which is still a restricted area and saw for ourselves the damage.  The daily lives of many people and businesses have not yet returned to normal.  Business owners can’t get into their shops, employees cannot get to work … or worse, they’ve lost their jobs.

In the evening, we had dinner with my friends from school and uni days.  It was Stephanie’s birthday.  I was born in the same hospital as her … just one day earlier.  We could have been swapped at birth!