I’ve been fortunate enough in the last few months to travel a bit within the South Island. It’s given me the opportunity to reconnect with many of the places I was first introduced to many years ago, as well as discover some new ones. Some sadly, have to date only been places for passing through, or a brief stop on the road to somewhere … Continue reading Oamaru Magic
Rebuild workers and their families relocating to our shores might be pleasantly surprised by the number of family friendly activities we have. We are fortunate that many of our best known international attractions such as Orana Wildlife Park and Willowbank Reserve suffered relatively minor damage in the Canterbury Earthquakes. Then there are the host of festivals, holiday initiatives and celebrations, partially sponsored by our local … Continue reading A Family Attraction
In a city post earthquake, where the amount of materials from demolition sent to landfill would make your eyes water, what does one do to challenge our throwaway society? You take a small seaside cottage in the earthquake red zone, once lovingly restored and nurtured by its former owners. Next you make a pact with several other like minded individuals to salvage and up-cycle as … Continue reading Rekindle
In previous posts I’ve spoken about the rise of creative and artistic ventures leading the regeneration of Christchurch. One particular area is the growing trend for raw and often confronting street art. Initially designed to be of a purely transitional nature while more substantial projects take shape, it is becoming a welcomed and embraced art form. For what is traditionally known as a very conservative … Continue reading Street Art Challenges Conservative Label
Four months ago I wrote a post about the “Stand Tall” giraffes’ exhibition that to this day still hasn’t been published on this site. Life was suddenly consumed by more pressing tasks and a waning “photo mojo” that is only now, starting to take shape again. Updating a blog felt time consuming and all to difficult an ask in that environment. The problem with that … Continue reading History Taking A Lead In Recovery
The Festival of Transitional Architecture or FESTA lit up the Christchurch CBD night skies on Labour Day holiday weekend. For the last three years, students of architecture and design have collaborated with other artists, sponsors and the public to create temporary urban spaces, which encourage visitors to them to fully engage with each site. Their installations utilise structure, form and innovation to be bring them … Continue reading Festa
I’ve touched briefly before on the concept of recycling and rebirth of objects destroyed in the Christchurch Earthquakes of 2010/2011, into other forms. As time goes on I am seeing more use of these materials in both our artistic and architectural designs. Perhaps motivated by the loss of several significant heritage buildings, jaw dropping amounts of demolition material being trucked straight to land fill or … Continue reading Crafted from our history and with love
Nothing in Christchurch stands still for long post earthquake. The city is ever evolving and changing, as new projects and works of art appear, some of our old favourites make a comeback or those things that we have come to recognise as the symbols of our recovery reinvent themselves. No where is this more apparent than in the central business district. In a recent visit … Continue reading The Changing Face
New Brighton. One of several Christchurch eastern suburbs majorly affected by the events of recent years. For this beach side locale, already suffering from the limping economy and its socioeconomic fall out, the earthquake sequence of 2010/2011 looked like being the death nail in its coffin. Enter a relatively small, but core group of businesses, who in the midst of the other bigger “anchor” tenants … Continue reading New Brighton – Clawing Its Way Back From The Brink (Part One)
Two thirds of our cafes, restaurants and wine bars, which had largely been centred in the CBD, were lost with the Christchurch earthquakes. For their owners and those they employed there, it was a double blow. In many cases on top of their battered and broken homes, they were literally left without jobs to go to almost overnight. The situation was compounded by military rule … Continue reading Hospitality making a comeback
In this little corner of the world 