England Captain Lewis Moody takes some of the pupils at Woolston School, Christchurch through their paces. Photo / Geoff Sloan
So finally after 22 hours up in the sky (and three breakfasts over 3 different continents) we finally arrived in Christchurch on Tuesday. Bleary-eyed, me and Greg wandered through passport control, quickly picked up our rucksacks and headed off to Christchurch city centre.
Our bus pulled up by Hagley Park,
passing the mass of rugby pitches and the fanzone dome. Getting our bearings, we decided to explore the city centre - we were greeted with steel fences everywhere.
Confused, we wandered around some more to find a gap in the fence for us to get into the area that seemed to be the main part of the city. Then we realised that this was no puzzle - It was the red zone, the area that was hit hard by the 6.3 magnitude quake. I was surprised to see so many of the buildings were still unstable.
Most shocking of all were the bars & cafés just by the Avon which had significant damage to them. Many would have been brimming with England fans before the kick-off for our first match against Argentina. But after the devastation from the February 22 quake, AMI Stadium was deemed unstable and so two of England's group games have been moved to Dunedin.
It's certainly a shame for me as I was excited to explore New Zealand's second largest city, but it seems that the red zone severely dented my plans.
On a brighter note, it was great to see Lewis Moody and Martin Johnson on the TV, jetting into Christchurch on Wednesday to visit some school children who where affected by the disaster.
