Christchurch, city of white folks

Isn't it great to have complementary Internet at one's place of accomodation?

Christchurch is supposed to be New Zealands' most English city. There is a River Avon, several stone buildings which are Oxford University-looking (most of which were designed by the same architect, which makes it risky to use one as an orientation landmark), and a population which is mostly white. In fact, a few Asian students were beaten up in Christchurch a little while back, so I'm glad I'm here with a tall, scary, protective guy.

The place is quite pleasant; there are large green areas really close to the city centre. The Arts Centre is fun, too - though more slick than it was when I visited it years ago. There are artist's workshops where you can watch them paint, carve bone, turn wood or whatever. The new art gallery is good; the building is one of those arty farty designs which make traditionalists shudder. I thought it was like being in a grown-up version of Te Papa (NZ's national museum which has gone out of it's way to appeal to kids - at the expense of being interesting to adults).

We rounded off our day with a visit to the cinema. Shrek 2 in fact. I really enjoyed it; Puss in Boots is disarmingly cute when he needs to be, the bad fairy godmother is so obviously Jennifer Saunders and donkey is still amazingly expressive for a computer-generated cartoon animal. And the ending was quite satisfactory too.