We have a flight later in the afternoon back to Sydney, so there’s a bit of time for a couple of to-see sites.

The first site is the transitional home of the Anglican Congregation of the original Christchurch Cathedral, which was severely damaged in the 2011 quake and is undergoing restoration. It was a one block walk from our apartment to the transitional cathedral which is also known as the “cardboard cathedral”, which becomes apparent.

Completed in 2013 by Shigeru Ban Architects at a final cost of only $7M, the temporary cathedral can seat 700 and utilizes limited readily-available materials, concrete floor slab, cardboard tubes, used shipping containers, plywood and gluelam beams and corrugated acrylic roofing panels.

The exterior shape also invokes the form of the traditional wharenui, the Māori meeting house.

The second stop pre-flight is Quake City on the west side of Christchurch, which is the museum dedicated to recounting the historical seismic events of the area, but especially to most recent 2010 and 2011 events.

The exhibits are interactive, descriptive and also extremely emotional, as survivors also relive their personal experiences in a compilation of individual videos that compile to over an hour.

It was place most appropriately experienced in person – photography is allowed, but we did not do so.

The airport awaits, and with it the hop back to Sydney, the long haul to Honolulu and a short bus ride in the air to Maui.