43. Christchurch Tribute 2011

It's been a long time since last I wrote. Instead of writing the next part of my travels in New Zealand, I write this as a tribute to those who lost loved ones and those who suffered or were touched in some way by the terrible earthquake which hit Christchurch in February this year.

I was in Laos at the time and having gone back to my hotel, put the telly on and settled back to watch a show. The first thing I saw and heard was about the earthquake in Christchurch and I couldn't understand why they were reporting something that happened five months previously. It took a few minutes to realise they weren't. I sat there shocked as I learned of the earthquake that had all but destroyed a city. It had happened that day - February 22, 2011.

I felt so sad and just cried at the devastation and destruction. My memories of Christchurch are of a beautiful city with lovely parks and gardens - brilliant flowers, tall, stately buildings and wide, clean streets.

Below is a collage of some of those memories.

Christchurch before the earthquakes