So, while we were on a break, I went to Christchurch to see my son for his 19th birthday. It was a fleeting visit. I flew down on a Friday and home on Saturday afternoon, but my goodness – Christchurch turned it on.  

The weather was stunning, the views of the Alps made you want to drop everything and run for the slopes. People were out-and-about. The city was humming – Friday lunch time around Oxford Terrace and Cashel St was bustling – but in a relaxed way. There are wonderful new precincts filled with interesting shops and eateries and new architectural landmarks. Eating was my son’s first priority, and once that was taken care of we spent the days cruising second-hand book and vinyl shops from the central city to glistening Lyttleton.  

I can’t say what it’s like to live in Christchurch 2.0. I can’t begin to imaging what it’s been like living through the rebuild, and there’s clearly still plenty of recovery work to be completed, but from a visitor’s point of view it felt alive, thriving and positive. My uber driver told me tourism was starting to build again and I can see why.  

My few days on the mainland were a stark contrast with my journey into Auckland’s city centre yesterday. Now, I am a proud Aucklander and I have pushed back at the complaints about central Auckland. I enjoy shopping and going to events in the city, but goodness, it’s hard sometimes.  

Yesterday we attended the University of Auckland’s Open Day. The campus was busy and it was uplifting and exciting to see so many young people on the cusp of new adventures.  

But all the positively was drained from us when we went to head home.  We’d parked in Victoria Street Carpark in the heart of the city. When it came to leave at 12.05 we think someone forgot to put the carpark full sign out so cars kept flooding in, and with only one lane taking cars both up and down the full carpark building, traffic came to a grinding halt. Stuck on the 13th level, we didn’t move for more than 40 minutes. Finally, at around 1pm, we exited the building.  

There may have been another reason, maybe a technical glitch somewhere, but when I asked the AT man who was directing traffic I was sternly instructed to get moving. I suspect he’d coped a bit of abuse from a lot of angry customers and was under a bit of pressure.  

Here’s the crazy thing is – the parking cost us $2.50. How good would that have been if we could have exited the building! It seems finding affordable and efficient parking, and good access to the city when events are on, is becoming harder. These kind of issues are unhelpful for a city centre with a reputational problem. Nor does it motivate people to come back.  

We don’t know exactly what impact of the CRL will have on moving people around the city when it opens next year, but fingers crossed it helps – a lot. Aucklander’s also deserve a thriving inner city which makes us feel invigorated, rather than frustrated.  

Yesterday we sorted out my daughter’s degree and her future in a shorter period of time than it took for us to get out of a carpark building. Now, that’s just nuts. 

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