Today was the official day that all of the cordon in the central city was lifted. The cordon was put in place after the September 2010 earthquake and was extended to most of the central city after the February 2011 earthquake. Bit by bit the cordon has been lifted, with different streets accessible to pedestrians and often also cars. I’ve been going into the city on such a regular basis, that the final lifting of the cordon has not been a dramatic event for me. It’s really only meant that I can now walk from the ReStart Mall through the cathedral square to New Regent Street. Of course, being able to actually walk through the Square again is quite a big deal – it is after-all the heart of the city.

So today, I took a walk from Re-Start to the square and down to New Regent – snapping pics as I went. It was a beautiful sunny day and people were out in force to walk around the city unimpeded. There are a few roads still blocked off, but that’s to be expected with the level of re-building that now has to happen.

A panorama taken on Colombo Street looking at the back of the Cathedral.

Another panorama, this time including the Chalice sculpture.

I love this building. I’m not sure of its future though. To me, it looks in good condition.

The Cathedral.

People in the Square again.

The Cathedral up-close. It’s condition will just keep deteriorating.

The Novotel Hotel is looking good and will be open again in August.

The Heritage Hotel is looking wonderful. It has some work done on it over the last few months. According to their website, they are taking bookings for August. So that will be two major hotels open in the square during August. It will be very interesting to see what impact that has on the central city.

Well, it’s going to be an interesting year ahead of us as new buildings get finished off and larger developments like The Terrace get underway.