Christchurch center, close to my apartment:
Even though more than 85% of the total population of about 4.3 million in New Zealand live in its few major cities, they still prefer to have their own separated houses and small yards, rather than stacking their apartments in large high-rises like most urbanized places do. This has resulted in a suburban sprawl that simply doesn't have an end to it, as well as to people being more and more dependant on their cars. I've seen plenty of houses for sale here, and the biggest selling point often seems to be the size of the garage, rather than the place itself. I actually met some city urban planners and saw the cool 3D-models they had created of the city, projecting its growth in different near future scenarios, their goal being to stop the spread of the small housing and focus on developing the central city further. Their biggest headache seemed to be that the people running the city way back in the day had divided most of the land into plots 10 meters wide and 50 meters deep, which doesn't really leave a lot of room for the imagination (or requires a hell of a lot of it, when trying to build something big). But still, unless the economy collapses completely, the downtown real estate prices in this city are unlikely to stop growing on a longer time scale. :)
Many of the houses on the 6km hike between my apartment and my office look very nice, they don't call this the city of gardens for nothing:
Though there are also houses that do away with silly greenery and just look cool by themselves:
Of course you also need something from the other end of the spectrum as a reference point:
(That last one is actually just a less fancy house in otherwise quite fancy neighborhood, I haven't even gone to the "poorer" section of the city yet.)
The Kiwis don't mind having to own a car or two, though, as they seem to like the damn things almost as much as they like rugby, which in turn they like more than they like sex. A good third of the cars I see on the roads here are either SUVs or pick-up trucks. As it is a country full of mountains, it might be understandable, but it still annoys me.
The people themselves are usually friendly and rather laid back sort, not to mention curious as hell, which might bother some Scandinavian types. In many ways they remind me of Americans, just without the constant need to go "Hey! Hey! Look at me! Just look at how cool I am!" They also seem to like working for themselves rather than for some large faceless corporation, as tiny restaurants, shops and hotels are everywhere, whereas things like super markets are few and far in between.
I often pass this lawnmower shoppe and the sign always makes me smile. Lawnmower fight!
On several streets there are stretches kilometers long of only hotels, motels, hostels, motor lodges, B&Bs and whatnot, all trying to outsmart the competition with promises of spa rooms, free internet access, cable TV and even some cheesy themes. Late in the evening most of the "No vacancy" signs outside are lit, which says something about the amount of tourists that swarm the country around the year. It is very popular among travelers to rent a car here (it's quite cheap) and drive around the islands on their own leisurely pace, as the public transportation to the more distant locations is often lacking at best. As a non-driver I have no idea how easy it is to get used to the left-sided traffic.
Then a couple of more touristy shots:
People playing chess in the Cathedral Square.
Yet another picture of the cathedral:
The useless tram line I mentioned before actually goes through buildings at some points. (Check out the size of the egg that kiwi has :)
Tomorrow I'll try and post some photos I took yesterday at a park close to my apartment, where the local Chinese community was celebrating the Lantern Festival. (Same party that got the people in Beijing to burn down their brand-new skyscraper earlier this week.)
Oh yes, and on next week's Sunday, 22nd of Feb, it's time to go up the irons, as Iron Maiden comes to Christchurch for the first time in more than a decade! My ticket is in my bed-side drawer, where is yours? ;)
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