Rediscovering Christchurch - The Great Outdoors
It has been far too long since I last did one of these posts. That one was way way way back in November, back when we were allowed into the central city on buses, back before December 23rd reminded us all that we still can't be complacent about aftershocks diminishing, right back when summer was just beginning and hadn't yet released its full splendour onto our city. Since then the city has suffered through its share of ups and downs and dragged me along with it, but through all of the challenges my children and I explored many of the open spaces in Christchurch. In short, we enjoyed a classic New Zealand outdoor summer.
The earthquakes have stolen a lot from the city and its people. They've stolen buildings and security, they've stolen trust and a sense of place. Most importantly, they've stolen some of our people - and none of those things is minor. But the one thing the earthquakes didn't steal, can't ever steal, is our nature and our open spaces. Some of them may be locked up behind red zone barriers but they are all still there just waiting for those barriers to come down and welcome us back. Some have already been returned to us. I haven't been back to Latimer Square since it tiptoed out of the cordon but just knowing it's there, back in its rightful place, is a great feeling; and one day we'll get that feeling back about all the rest of our spaces that are waiting for us.
In the meantime there are still many which are available to us, some even being utilised far more heavily than they have experienced before. In fact there are so many that I'm just going to look at a few - ones that represent others of their kind. The first is the one closest to home - the beach. I have been a little guilty of taking this wonderful resource for granted in previous years. Before we moved close to the beach we'd make an effort to come over here and make use of it but once we settled in the area it became 'well, we can do that anytime' and I lost the sheer pleasure of being there because it seemed like such a simple thing. The thing is, we are blessed to live in a city with beaches right on our doorstep that we can access whenever we like and if there's one thing these earthquakes have taught me it is to make the absolute most of what we have because by tomorrow it may just be a fading memory. Thus, I have spent far more time at the beach the last two summers, and especially this one - playing with my children, soaking up the healing sense of peace it can give, taking part in community events and making sure I never take it for granted again.
The second space that is almost a second home for my family is Hagley Park, and especially the botanic gardens. My husband works at the museum so whenever we go to visit him we get to spend time in the gardens as well. Like the beach it's a place that oozes peace almost as soon as you go in there, and no matter how many times we go there is always something new to see - some path we haven't been down before or a new season's plantings. This day, for example, we ducked off our usual path back to the car and found this tranquil spot where the kids made and sailed leaf boats and I sat and watched them.
Again, these are spaces that we are enormously blessed to have. The people who built the city all those years ago and gifted the land to the people in perpetuity had a great deal of foresight. Of course they couldn't have foreseen that we would lose such a huge part of our built environment, but they did foresee a central park which would be a hub of activity and community and that's what we have - and it is important now even more than ever. Hagley Park itself, especially North Hagley Park, has really taken its place in the centre of the city since the February earthquake. It has been a focus for the rugby fanzone. It has provided a site for the buskers festival now that most of its venues are behind the cordon, fenced off or even obliterated. It has been the scene of several joyful children's Christmas events. It is currently playing host to the lantern festival, now displaced from Victoria Square, and will soon once again take up its role as show place for the Ellerslie Flower Show. It has also been used for one earthquake memorial and will be the site for the anniversary memorial as well. It has become the centre of the city in an emotional sense for me as well as a physical one.
These are all places I knew well even before the quakes, but which took on a greater role in my life afterwards. There are others, however, that I didn't know so well until this summer when I decided to get out more. There was the sweet little suburban park in St Albans which allowed a production of Sleeping Beauty/The Frog Prince to run in its grounds. It was the perfect setting - green, leafy; felt open and airy, yet also private and intimate. It was lovely to just flop down there with a blanket and some food and watch the show. There was also Victoria Park, a place I have never been despite a somewhat morbid interest in it ever since seeing Heavenly Creatures. It was nothing like I expected, being so much more open than I had realised. The views over the city from there (and from the lower Cashmere hills) were lovely and worth the visit on their own and that's not mentioning the sheer number of walks it seems you can take up there. Since I had my kids with me we didn't go far but what we did see was enough to make me want to go back and explore further some day when they aren't with me.
There are a number of things and places I haven't got to yet, but which I intend to go to soon. Due to unforeseen circumstances, I haven't taken the kids through Bottle Lake Park yet despite intending to for at least two school holidays now. I'm aware of that sense of 'it might not last' tickling at the back of my mind so that one is now top of my list which also includes the Hallswell Quarry Park. I also want to go back to some favourite parks and playgrounds from when they were all much smaller and which either are now, or might become, part of the residential red zone. Also, this week is the last week of the 'Complete History of Christchurch' running at the daffodil lawn in the botanic gardens. By all accounts it is funny, moving and well worth seeing; and in there somewhere I need to fit in the summer open air Shakespeare in the Mona Vale homestead garden, another favourite place to which I haven't returned in far too long.
We have had a wonderful summer, which in hindsight I don't recall being marred by much in the way of rain or cool weather. It has been, and continues to be, a great time to explore the many natural spaces the city has to offer. Despite the earthquakes, there is still a city teeming with things to do - and I don't think I have touched on even half of what's on offer outdoors from the Port Hills, through Sumner, Spencer Park , the various wetlands and on to our beaches. It seems to me that no matter what it is you like to do outdoors, from hard exercise to community events, there is still something for everyone to be found in the city - and that's something to celebrate.