Beautiful hot, sunny, calm day so mid afternoon I decided to take molly to the beach. Didn’t get very far when I realised there would be so many people there it wasn’t a good day to go.

Stopped for a walk along the river instead …….. and after 2 hours, and many photos taken through the wire fencing, we arrived back at the car. We followed the red zone fence and just kept walking until we circumnavigated the entire central city closed area.

It was interesting to see the amount of work being completed – so many empty spaces, so many buildings coming down, and so many buildings barricaded awaiting their turn for demolition.

Whenever Christchurch recovers it will be a very different city from the one we know. All our favourite haunts have disappeared, and it is hard to visualise what will replace them ……….. or, more importantly, if or when they will be replaced.

However it was a refreshing walk as all the work being done appears clean, tidy and orderly, and Christchurch is still a beautiful city and a place I will continue to be happy to live in ………………… but one year on it is surreal to see the ongoing devastation caused by such a sudden, unexpected, natural event.

The photos are:

Durham St and The Crowne Plaza – demolition has just started and will create a huge void in the central city area.

Durham St Provincial Chambers – a beautiful historic building severely damaged and waiting.

St Asaph St looking to the back of the High Street shops – looks bad but nothing seems to be happening here. Maybe they can be saved, or maybe the digger has finished demolishing the back of McKenzie and Willis and is now waiting to start on High St. Who knows !?!?

Madras St building – a typical sight around the city. Here today, looking sad, but one day it will just disappear and leave another big empty space.

Sorry I missed the Blipmeet at Halswell Quarry but we had a street BBQ at the same time and ongoing contact with neighbours is so important at this time.