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New
Zealand really was pretty grim the first time I visited, made all the more
so as I was leaving a rather pleasant summer (by English standards) to be
plunged suddenly into the depths of a filthy wet, windy and cold July in the
Southern hemisphere. On
returning six months later I was pleasantly surprised by the opposite
effect, leaving a dismal English winter and being presented with a summer
from my childhood.
Although it is pushing it a bit to pretend that Christchurch in any way
resembles Oxford, other than the punting on the river and the street names,
it is nevertheless, very enjoyable, with museums, parks, gardens and
excellent food at reasonable prices. It
is also not far from the vast open country, mountains and coastline which
draws so many to New Zealand.
Christchurch is supposedly a "Christian" town and it certainly seemed fairly
conservative; so I guess it is not altogether surprising when the opposition
decide to fight back.
Pretty good museums and galleries considering it is such a small place and
so far from anywhere. The new Christchurch Art Gallery is an
impressive building in itself, though annoyingly, photography is prohibited
inside the building. That same bizarre notion from the Bilbao
Guggenheim, that I might go away and build my own version if I managed to
grab half a dozen high resolution images of the interior. |
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