New Zealand 

Well I am less than a week in NZ and I love it already. I must be the most enthusiastic traveller ever. So far the landscape is very familiar, and would remind you of home. It actually feels like autumn here while it didn’t in Australia. It’s colder than Oz but nothing I can’t handle – no snow or anything like that which I was half expecting. 

Christchurch is a lovely city still recovering from the bad earthquake four years ago. There are an awful lot of blank spaces in the city centre and a massive reconstruction project is underway. They built this temporary cathedral out of wood and cardboard – a Japanese architect came over and designed it for the city. I saw an exhibition on it when I was in Japan so it was great to see it finally.

   There is a very moving memorial to all the people who died in the earthquake – 185 empty white chairs, one for each person. According to the artist, the exhibition is temporary – like life. Indeed.