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 Christchurch's Neo-Gothic cathedral is a focal point of the city. Its construction began in 1865, but wasn't completed until 1904.(SUN/Dan Leeth) |
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand -- Like melodies from the Piper, riffs of forgotten music lure me to a Sunday concert in the park.
There on a temporary stage, I find a band playing seductive songs of surfing, psychedelia and unrequited love -- anthems of my youth. Four-thousand listeners cluster on the lawn.
In the middle of the pack, a couple creates their own grassy dance floor. Clasping hands, they twirl and twist, her chiffon skirt swirling. The pair are in their sixties.
Up front, teenage girls ride boyfriends' shoulders, swaying to tunes that were golden oldies before they were born. Their love beads and tie-dyed T-shirts must have been lifted from mom's memorabilia stash.
A free festival of peace and harmony, generations bonding with music -- it's the fable of Woodstock on a Lilliputian scale. Flying to New Zealand, not only have I swapped hemispheres, but in Christchurch, I must have passed through the looking glass into a halcyonic wonderland.
Christchurch is the largest city on New Zealand's less populated South Island. With 318,000 inhabitants, it presents a magnitude grand enough for diversity, yet small enough to feel intimate. Blending classic values with modern convenience, the town offers a fantasy escape into a kingdom of charisma and tranquillity.
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English immigrants founded Christchurch, and except for predominately blue skies, the town still proffers a British feel. Old World meets new on downtown streets where Neo-Gothic stone-block buildings stand beside concrete high rises. Downtown is the medieval-inspired Christchurch Cathedral and its adjacent square.
In the brick-paved plaza, trees cast summer shade and planters offer islands of greenery. A pageant of humanity strolls through, which I watch from my perch on a park bench. The show turns spellbinding when the Wizard arrives.
Declared a "Living Work of Art" by the New Zealand Galleries, the sorcerer sports a white robe trimmed with gaudy red and gold flames. An antenna-topped pith helmet covers his long, graying locks.
Although he has rain-danced to start deluges, the Wizard is best known for bewitching oratory. From atop a stepladder, he spouts rhetoric bound to delight those who find talk radio entertaining. With the ire of Imus and the logic of Limbaugh, the maven blasts bureaucracy, Americans, feminism and male weakness.
"Adam committed the worse sin of any man," he tells the crowd. "He obeyed his wife. See what that got him!"
Males cheer and women jeer as he continues his spiel, railing at the inequities of cohabitational toilet seat etiquette.
Onlookers watch from the cathedral steps. While it is the city's most celebrated house of worship, the town's original "mother church" stands a few blocks away. Built from native pine and painted glistening white, Saint Michael's remains one of the largest wooden churches in the world.
A caretaker gives me a tour of the sanctuary. She says her name. It sounds something like Clee-ah.
"Do you spell that C-L-E-A?" I ask.
"No, C-L-A-I-R-E. Clee-ah," she responds.
The local accent, which falls somewhere between a lime-juice pucker and a shrimp-on-the-barbie drawl, has me numbed. The New Zealand sense of courtesy, however, I find touching. I admire how they implore with genteel politeness.
A sign in a hotel breakfast lounge reads: "If you wouldn't mind, could you please leave your dishes on the counter." A Port-a-Loo notice suggests: "Your consideration in helping keep this toilet clean will be appreciated by the next person."
Even the dogs employ friendly persuasion. At a riverside park, a yellow Labrador approaches carrying a stick. I look for its owner, but the dog travels solo. He drops the object at my feet. I pick it up and give a toss. The Lab brings it back. We play throw and fetch until the canine moves on. I continue to stroll along the Avon River.
The Avon reflects the calm of Christchurch, meandering through the city in willow-shaded yawns. Placid and serene, the stream invites visitors to float its waters. Some rent paddle boats or canoes. The romantic ride punts.
Shallow boats made of varnished wood, punts have flat bottoms and square ends. White-garbed men stand on the sterns. They propel their crafts forward, using long poles to push through the water.
The punts launch near the Worcester Bridge where a pedestrian mall runs from Cathedral Square. Horse-drawn carriages clomp down the avenue. Vivid red phone booths, looking like London imports, stand nearby. Refurbished trams ply the centre of the road on rails that loop through downtown.
I board one of the streetcars and listen to the conductor's narrative as we pass the Gothic-styled Art Centre, Canterbury Museum and Christ's College grammar school. There, the young male students wear ties and striped blazers, an inspiring contrast to the grunge look at home.
At Victoria Square, the tram makes a scheduled stop and fails to restart. The conductor jokes with passengers while his partner calls for help on a cell phone. As they await repairs, or perhaps a Wizardly tram dance, I leave and start walking.
I pass the Ferrier Fountain, where water sprays from silvery dandelions. A short distance away, a floral clock tells time with hands of budding blossoms. Nearby, towers the Park Royal Hotel, home of the high rollers. Christchurch Casino lies beyond.
New Zealand's first gambling emporium takes the melding of new and old to ludicrous extremes. Outside, the building looks like a grounded Sputnik. Inside, wall murals depict a Roman orgy.
Advertisements claim the casino provides the South Island's only dignified adrenaline rush, but today the place appears vacant as a bungee jump in a retirement home.
"Is it always this empty?" I ask a blackjack dealer standing behind her deserted table.
"Oh no, it's wall-to-wall people on weekends," she says.
After hearing a slot machine jackpot announced with the blare of a cheap car alarm, I flee for a more soothing environment.
I find it at the Botanic Gardens, where pathways access 75 acres of trees and flowers. Wandering through, I ogle color and inhale the delicate scents. I am surrounded by stillness, the lull of buzzing bees, chirping birds and whooshing sprinklers.
The Avon flows along the garden's perimeter. Beyond is Hagley Park, a 450-acre public enclave. A major roadway splits it into two sections.
In South Hagley Park a women's league plays field hockey. Some of the participants appear to be grandmothers. They miss shots, but look fit, and their smiles suggest they're having fun.
I saunter through North Hagley late in the day, walking paved trails past sprawling lawns. A group of teens plays an impromptu soccer match. Helmeted children clad in school uniforms race by on bicycles. A woman frolics with her dogs.
The sunset sky turns yellow, then crimson. The park empties. Only the soccer teams still go at it in the enveloping darkness.
As I return toward the lights of the city, I see a middle-aged woman strolling alone, seemingly unafraid. Her lack of concern further accentuates the contrast with metropolitan America. At home, my wife will not even walk three suburban blocks to the supermarket after dusk.
But out here, the realities of home seem more than a hazy hemisphere away. They lie somewhere back on the other side of the looking glass.
If you go:
GETTING THERE: Air New Zealand and Air Canada have a new joint marketing arrangement which came into effect Nov. 1. From Toronto to Auckland, a high-season summer (our winter) fare is about $2,419 return, and in winter (our summer) a return fare costs about $1,919.
Air New Zealand (1-800-663-5494), United (1-800-538-2929) and Qantas (1-800-227-4500) serve New Zealand from Los Angeles. Discount fares start at approximately $900 U.S. low season, $1,250 U.S. high.
North American flights land in Auckland, and from there New Zealand's major domestic airlines (Air New Zealand, Mount Cook and Ansett New Zealand) service Christchurch.
MORE INFO: New Zealand Tourism Board offers an excellent Simply Remarkable Vacation Planner. Call 1-800-888-5494.
WHEN TO GO:
New Zealand's seasons are reversed from those in North America.
Summer (December through March) offers warm days with highs in the 20s C.
Winter (June through September) is still pleasant, with temperatures in
reaching into the teens.