Where there is hope.......

As we had 6 hours in Christchurch before our onward flight to Invercargill at the very bottom of the South Island of NZ, we decided to go into the city centre. In 2011 Christchurch suffered the 2nd worst earthquake disaster in New Zealand's history. 168 people were killed and the city centre all but demolished. 6 years later life is returning to normal although there are still many buildings in a bad way, awaiting demolition.
The Cathedral, the centre piece of the main square is badly damaged and fenced off, and a new one has been constructed. This new, transitional, building, known as the cardboard cathedral, can be seen in the collage photo with its coloured windows, a larger picture can be seen in extras. It is called the cardboard cathedral because all the inner roof struts are huge cardboard rolls.
We went to the Saturday market where all the surrounding shops are brightly coloured shipping containers.
There is truly hope here in the way the people of Christchurch have set about repairing their lives.