Taking some time off here New Brighton Christchurch. Had a wonderful walk, with earplugs in my ears listening to music. Andrea stayed behind in the B&B and also take her moment of rest. Our hosts mentioned that the tourist season is over so it is very quiet here!

In the distance someone with two dogs, a jogger and me. I looked towards the sea, and made a panorama picture with my eyes. It actually seems like I see the earth bulge. The thought that I can not continue and have arrived at indeed worlds end.

A feeling of peace and being alone came over me. A bit emotionally actually. A song from the eagles gently through my earplugs, wondering what I would really like now. I came up with the absence of time. Wouldn’t it be great to just erase that concept.

From losing in time, I arrived in Christchurch of 2011. Christchurch was hit by an earthquake.

Now 3 years later you see mostly cranes and containers in the once so picturesque center of Christchurch. I have some difficulties experiencing the disaster tourism here in a certain way. We went to a museum quake experience To see what happened in February 2011, and how people showed their resilience here too. The museum gives an impressive picture of the experience at the time of the earthquake, the search for your neighbor, the clearing of rubble and the reconstruction.

Today 2014 it still is sad to find that so many empty cracked houses, boarded up with wood, sprayed with gravity are to been seen throughout the city and suburbs .

We went to the tourist information office to find some car rental services and some tourist guides. We didn’t need to go anywhere else. Everything what we needed was arranged for the coming three weeks. We rented a camper for for 3 weeks, and had a pretty good idea where to go to.

The next day we left new Brighton at 11:00 am towards the south of the Southern Island. Starting to explore what makes new Zealand so special, to see all kinds of landscapes and climates converge on a relatively small surface.