A second chance for Christchurch

Following a series of earthquakes that claimed 185 lives, a city once seen as quaintly provincial is not only rebuilding but also reinventing itself. Norman Miller enjoys its new boldness

My notebook was stuffed. There was breathless recollection of my being chased by a seal across a rocky South Pacific beach at Kaikoura (I'd been trying too hard for that close-up shot), of being thrilled by a haka war dance amid piping-hot geysers and bubbling geothermal pools in the Maori heartland of Rotorua. My scribbles detailed walks in dappled sunlight through a forest of 2000-year-old kauri trees and sips in world-class vineyards. I'd gazed on glaciers and fjords, rainforest and island-studded bays and tried to ignore all mention of hobbits.

After all these natural wonders, I was facing a sight I had tried unsuccessfully to imagine since day one of this 27-day New Zealand odyssey: the world's only pop-up city.

In contrast to the luxurious outdoor lifestyle and foodie haunts of Auckland, or the cultured hipness of Wellington, Christchurch was once considered quaintly provincial - courtesy of its elegant Victorian buildings and a long-held reputation for being the most "English" of New Zealand's cities. Now it's like no other city on Earth, furiously piecing itself back together after major earthquakes in September 2010 and February 2011 reduced swathes of it to ruins.

Eighty percent of the city centre's buildings collapsed or had to be pulled down. In all, 100000 houses were damaged, and 10000 await demolition while insurers debate payouts. This state of affairs has - counter-intuitively, perhaps - sparked a house-price boom, as residents keen to stay in a city they love all seek new homes at once.

Drolly taking as inspiration the phrase "Sure to rise" from a renowned New Zealand primer on baking, Christchurch is busy reinventing itself as well as rebuilding. The city is not only "functioning" mighty well considering what it has been through, but is also replacing its previous staid image with a growing reputation for boldness.

Take its Anglican cathedral. While debate rages over whether - and how - to rebuild the toppled 19th-century original, the city has built a remarkable and imaginative stand-in. The so-called Transitional "Cardboard" Cathedral, scheduled to open this summer, is an engineering miracle dreamt up by the Japanese "emergency-architecture" guru Shigeru Ban.

The soaring A-frame wonder is fashioned from enormous reinforced cardboard tubes and a futuristic polycarbonate roof. Inside, a space big enough for 700 is subtly lit by stained-glass windows incorporating fragments from the old cathedral. "It's a fractured image that has powerful things to say about the city," said Craig Dixon, a development manager.

Old shipping containers are proving a favourite tool among the pop-up innovators. The closure for repairs of the city's Art Gallery until mid-2014 has prompted the conversion of cargo holders into street-corner "art boxes" featuring small contemporary art shows.

The Re:Start shopping mall on Cashel Street is another clever post-quake pop-up - 30 or so brightly painted containers stacked like giant Lego, each housing an upmarket shop. Food vans cluster in one corner, and I joined the queue for a delicious bargain lunch of souvlaki from a local favourite, Dimitris.

The recent reopening of New Regent Street, regarded as the country's most beautiful street when it was built in the '30s, gives Re:Start a more historic retail complement. After painstaking restoration work, its pastel-hued buildings once again flaunt facades plucked from the Spanish Mission stylebook.

Exploring in the summer sun, I needed cold beer more than cool boutiques, so I made a beeline for Smash Palace. This outdoor bar is another striking post-quake arrival, combining a container with two decrepit old buses. "Smash Palace is mobile," said its owner, Johnny Moore, whose former bar, Goodbye Blue Monday, was lost to the shakes. "If anything happens again I can just pack up and drive it anywhere."

I made a point of toasting the Gap Filler project, set up to generate ideas to restore life to empty spaces.

There's the Pallet Pavilion - a summertime open-air arts venue built from thousands of bright-blue pallets - as well as the cycle-powered cinema, an open-air dance floor (the Dance-O-Mat), poetry walls and a mini-golf course.

Landmark buildings that came through the tremors unscathed have been transformed into more-permanent post-quake hubs. At the 19th-century Central Post Office Building, a tiny ornate art-house cinema - decorated in '20s Egyptian Revival style - now occupies a little ground-floor space, a stylish riposte to the 30-plus screens lost across the city in the quakes. The Art Gallery, meanwhile, has commandeered an upper floor for a revolving schedule of small exhibitions. I mulled over a show of giant inflatable sculptures from Korea in the ground-floor C1 Espresso, sipping a flat white beneath giant vintage lights salvaged from the badly damaged Arts Centre (another venue due to reopen in 2014).

Having seen the damage the earthquakes inflicted, I discovered more about them at Quake City, an exhibition that opened earlier this year. It explains the perils of active liquefaction, shows footage of Christchurch relics such as the fallen cathedral spire and recounts the memories of those who survived - while paying tribute to the 185 people who didn't.

Among the landmarks to defy the quakes were the 19th-century Botanic Gardens, although instead of wandering there idly I headed for the green-striped 1880s Antigua Boatsheds on the River Avon and took out a punt. In New Zealand's most English city, nice chaps in blazers and boaters propel passengers along the leafy Avon as it curls through the gardens and neighbouring North Hagley Park.

Back at the boat sheds, I strode across the Botanic Gardens' green swath and dived into the grand 1870s Canterbury Museum. Whizzing through the natural history section - pausing to gaze at a stuffed re-creation of the extinct giant moa bird - I focused instead on fascinating old relics, from early Maori artefacts to the knife Roald Amundsen used to sharpen the stake that set Norway's flag fluttering at the South Pole in 1911.

I delved deeper into Christchurch's South Polar links at the International Antarctic Centre by the airport (there's a free shuttle bus running from the museum), adding to my list of unexpected Christchurch experiences.

Stepping into the snow-filled Storm Room, I watched in trepidation as a giant thermometer fell to -30°C and a roaring wind machine provided a taste of a howling Antarctic blizzard (don't worry, you get special clothing). Afterwards, I cooed over blue penguins frolicking in a pen.

As I had been in a punt earlier, it was only appropriate to end the day in a gondola. But this was aerial fun; in the shape of a cable-car ride up Mount Cavendish.

Gliding to the top over hillside paths still strewn with quake rubble, I was presented with perhaps the best urban panorama in New Zealand. To the west, Christchurch was spread in line of sight towards the jagged peaks of the Southern Alps. South and east were views of Banks Peninsula and Lake Ellesmere over the bohemian - and still badly shattered - harbour neighbourhood of Lyttelton. Northwards, clear weather offered a far glimpse of the beaches of Pegasus Bay and the Kaikoura Peninsula (and that irate seal).

As I scanned the horizon, a passer-by summed up the city's determination. "It's like sieving for gold or gems," she said. "You have to shake the sieve to get the treasure to come to the top."

It may take years for all evidence of the quake to disappear, but more and more of Christchurch's treasures - old and new - glint again amid the changing stonework.

Quick Facts

When to go: Spring and summer (October to March) are pleasantly warm, with average temperatures around 25°C. Winter in Christchurch can be chilly, with frost at night, though days are often dry and bright, with temperatures around 12°C.

What to do and see: Retro city tours include various companies running old London Routemaster double-decker buses around the complicated post-quake one-way system. To enjoy "cute value off the Richter scale" and a more intimate experience, squeeze into an Austin 7 (happytours.co.nz; tours from NZ$25 or R190). Guided bicycle tours (chchbiketours.co.nz; from NZ$40 or R310) include a freewheeling gourmet circuit of the city or a ride through the so-called Red Zone, the worst-hit area. Free shuttle buses run from the town centre to the International Antarctic Centre and the Gondola.

Further information: Christchurch & Canterbury Tourism (christchurchnz.com).

© The Daily Telegraph