Tuesday 1st July – Saturday 5th July: The (Cardboard) Cathedral City

After driving to a nearby reserve for a little more seal-watching over breakfast, it was late morning by the time we set off towards Christchurch. We didn’t get far. We pulled into a freedom camping spot on the coast just south of the Kaikoura Peninsula for a look-see and sandwiches. There was a pebbly “dune” that our rock-loving girls immediately ran to and began exploring. They begged to stay a night there. So, with no need to be anywhere at any time, we did.

The following day we finally made it to Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand’s second largest city. Our first stop, as we came into the city late in the day, was the QEII Rec & Sport Centre for showers and, because the pool sounded a lot of fun, a swim.

The pool didn’t disappoint. There was a big kids play area which had a fabulous wet playground with slides and a fort area and fountains and tipping buckets, along with a lazy river, toddlers pool, play pool and a hydroslide with tubes. Another area had ride-on floaties. The youngest ran from fun thing to fun thing, like a puppy playing piggy-in-the-middle. After showering, BlueAether and I had a cuppa in a late café that shared a glass wall with the play area, keeping an eye on the kids in peace.

When we were all done, it was dark. We parked up for the night next to a playground in a residential spot in New Brighton. So many places in this area are named after familiar spots in England.

The next day was a get-stuff-done day. Before the grocery shop, we stopped by the Riverside Market, a 7-day indoor market in the centre. If we’d had more time available on the parking meter (downside of camper life – parking buildings are difficult), I’d have loved to stay longer. It wasn’t the local produce mecca I’d hoped for, but there were so many delicious and interesting-looking food stalls selling familiar and unfamiliar cuisines, I could have happily eaten lunch there for a week. We did manage to pick up a couple of nice South Island cheeses after extensive sampling – a flavoursome, orange-coloured blue from Nelson, and a creamy Canterbury pepper-crusted Havarti.

We found a spot for lunch in a carpark beside the River Avon, next to the wonderful Margaret Mahy playground, where the kids had a bit of fun. Then, BlueAether dropped us girls off at the central library while he went off to do laundry and grocery shopping.

As a regular thing, the library provides space to a Lego-building charity. Kids can go in and create for free and sometimes attend workshops. I’d thought it would just be a dry space to kill some time, as the fine spell had come to an end. However, the library is amazing. There’s an entire floor dedicated to kids, and it was energetic and vibrant and obviously popular. In addition to the Lego, there are PlayStations with spectator seating, computers with learning(ish) games, a tree playhouse with a slide, and a separate, large room with table tennis, air hockey, giant games like Jenga and tic-tac-toe, and a lot of space for running about. And, of course, there are books. The books are laid out in a way that’s easy to browse, and there are cosy little reading nooks throughout the floor, including under the tree. Slightly removed from it all are sofas, where adults were relaxing with a view of the streets below. The other side of the library looked onto the damaged Christ Church Cathedral. Being the school holidays, the city libraries were running numerous simultaneous and back-to-back activities. The youngest joined in a “play with technology” session. The library was that good that the girls wanted to return the next day (we didn’t). Christchurch has amazing amenities.

Another night beside the playground, which the kids enjoyed, then the following day BlueAether stayed in the camper with what felt like the onset of a cold. Over the holidays, Christchurch was running KidsFest – a massive, city-wide programme of fun events and free and discounted activities, from children’s plays to cake decorating workshops. One of the discounted activities was “kids ride free” on the historic trams that take tourists around the city centre, so after lunch the girls and I enjoyed some exploring.

We got on the tram at the Arts Centre - previously the University of Canterbury. It looks like the university still uses parts of the complex. They’re beautiful, imposing old nouveau-Gothic buildings. Victorians were fond of building in bygone styles, and they really cut loose all over Christchurch, with Gothic appearing to be a favourite.

We hopped off at the stop for the Margaret Mahy playground, but first we wandered along an inviting, multicoloured pedestrian street of mainly cafes. Being cold and dreary weather, we stopped at a funky little gelato café with murals and art-crammed walls – the girls’ first gelato. They were creamy and delicious, and we enjoyed them while sitting in a cosy upstairs nook with a heater and a view up the street.

After popping into a nearby Kathmandu for an extra layer for the eldest (did I mention it was cold?) we spent a good while at the playground, thankfully avoiding rain. We joined a woman feeding some enormous eels in the Avon, then walked to visit the Cardboard Cathedral.

In the tragic and destructive 2011 earthquake, the nouveau-Gothic cathedral in the city centre, from which the Cathedral City once drew its epithet, was badly damaged. Its spire collapsed and it “broke like a plate”, as one local told us. The Transitional Cathedral, now officially coined the Cardboard Cathedral, was erected as a temporary structure for use until the repairs were complete. The repair work still hasn’t begun.

As impressive as the Gothic cathedral looks, it would be a shame to retire the Cardboard Cathedral, and I hope they don’t plan to. In a previous life, BlueAether and I visited a lot of holy buildings in Europe. We saw nothing like the Cardboard Cathedral. It’s smaller than I expected, and I hadn’t known that all the fixtures are made of cardboard, too - the pulpit and everything. It’s also much more beautiful than I anticipated, with warmth and simplicity and light. It’s not just a gimmicky building – there’s a gentle peace and reverence that’s quite lovely. The sense of welcome was reinforced by an elder of the church – I’m not sure of his role – who came over and chatted to the girls as they coloured pictures laid out at a table, and then to me when I joined them. Again, quite different to those awe-filled and remote experiences in Europe!

We wrapped up our sight-seeing with a final ride on the tram, then wandered through the botanic gardens to meet BlueAether. From there, we drove out to the harbour at Lyttelton, passing through a long tunnel and arriving in the dark, and fell asleep to the sound of a rope clanging against a mast.

We woke to pretty views across the harbour, which was busily being used by kayakers and other recreationists. Eventually, we made our way back through the tunnel and into Christchurch again, to the historic village at Ferrymead. Ferrymead is a large open-air museum, with many buildings that have been restored and relocated from around 1900. There’s also a tramway running through the village with a working tram, which we of course had a ride on.

As we were poking about one of the Ferrymead houses – that of a wealthy Christchurch resident – we encountered a man in old-fashioned dress with a waxed moustache and a tea towel, hurriedly stepping into the room. He told us that we were welcome to look around, and that he actually lived in the house, and rushed back to his work. A conversation with the tram driver and a costumed shopkeeper revealed that the village had several residents, some of whose homes were open to the public as part and parcel of living at Ferrymead, and some of which weren’t.

After we’d seen our fill of Ferrymead and completed a few final chores in the city, we said farewell to Christchurch and continued on our adventure.