Ōtautahi / Christchurch Daily Photo

Today I took the opportunity to walk into the square (the entrance is from the Cashel Mall). It was quite a surreal experience, especially since it was such a beautiful day – a stark contrast to the destruction we were viewing. There were lots of families doing the walk, quite a few older folk, and a few tourists as well – all walking along the fenced walkway and taking in the ruins that is the Cathedral and the new cityscape we now have. The walkway will be closed in a few weeks as they need to bring down the BNZ building which is very dangerous (well that’s what the sign said). We stood for a while and watched a crane lowering down a shipping container from the BNZ building – they’d been getting belongings out of the building. I didn’t feel unsafe in there, but I guess if we’d had even a small shake the instinct to get out would take over. They limit the walk to 400 people I think – they have guys with clickers counting people in and people out. Before you enter the walk there’s a large sign warning you that you may not survive in the event of an earthquake. It didn’t seem to put anyone off…