Christchurch City Centre

We spent the day walking around Christchurch. The city is devastated from the earthquake of 2010 and 2011. Almost 1500 building needed to be demolished and the downtown core is trying hard to rebuild. The  biggest hit from the quake was the Christchurch Cathedral. It took 40 years to build starting in 1864 and is completely unusable today. Having said that the Kiwi's have done a great job making the downtown interesting and very walkable. There are large murals on buildings left standing and sculptures in random open lots.  

The botanical gardens were beautiful and so peaceful and free!! We found Begonia's the size of side plates.