Strange Encounter at Bailies Bar/Warners Hotel
by Kakapo2
In Bailies Bar – more exactly: in the beergarden – I had one of the strangest encounters in my life. When Rod Donald, then the co-leader of the Green Party, died in 2005 his coffin was carried into the beer garden of Bailies Bar after the memorial service in Christchurch Cathedral. Bailies Bar, part of historic Warners Hotel, is just across the street, and it has always been been his favourite bar. So there was the coffin with the dead man inside, and the people walked around it and him with full beer and champagne glasses in their hands, and raised their glasses and said: “Cheers, Rod!” And you walked around people you normally see on the news every night, from Prime Minister Helen Clark and most ministers to the leaders of all other parties.
This was my first visit to Bailies Bar’s beer garden. And really: Even without coffin it was a special place. So you can imagine how gobsmacked I was when I saw that it has been demolished to make place for a new hotel. Really a shame.
The historic bar remains part of the place – but without the great beer garden it is only half as fabulous as before. The best features are the Victorian lantern glass ceilings, and oak panelling.
Warners Hotel was opened in 1863 as Cokers Commercial Rooms. Since 1874 it is known as Warners. The building you see today is from about 1920. A devastating fire had consumed most of the original wooden two-storey building in 1901. It changed hands several times, and demolition was looming when tourist numbers dropped in the late 1980s due to competition by many new hotels. But Warners became a backpackers accommodation. Only in the late 1990s it was transformed back to its former glory and is now a beautiful boutique hotel.
Café W is an elegant place for an afternoon coffee and cake. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Address:
Warners Corner, 50 Cathedral Square, Chch
Phone: (03) 366 5159
Internet: http://www.warnershotel.co.nz/
Email: reception@warnershotel.co.nz
Slip, Slop and Slap
by rozehill
Sun hat Sunscreen The thin ozone layer over New Zelaand means you can be sunburnt in a matter of minutes. It is advised to stay out of the sunshine between 11.00 and 15.00, slip on a shirt, slop on suscreen and slap on a hat.
Wartime heroines
by TheWanderingCamel
Just a short walk from Christchurch's beautiful Botanic Gardens, standing on Riccarton Avenue in front of the hospital, there's another small garden of old fashioned roses and herbal plants. The little red brick building standing in the middle of this garden is a Memorial Chapel, unique in its dedication to the nurses who died in the service of their country in wartime. The spur to its commission was the tragic loss of ten nurses from New Zealand in the torpedoing of a troop ship in the Mediterranean during WWI. Before the war was over, New Zealand's nursing profession had lost many more of its members as a result of the influenza pandemic that swept the world in 1917/8. Within a few years of these events, a decision was made to build a chapel for the hospital and dedicate it to the nurses who had died in these terrible events. Since its initial dedication, the chapel has come to a memorial to all women who have died in wartime anywhere.
It's a beautiful little church. Built in the tradition of the Arts and Crafts movement of the early 20th century, it features lovely woodwork and very fine stained glass - most of it the work of women artists. That tradition is carried on in new work that is commissioned for the chapel even now - new windows and the lovely aisle carpet. The west vestry contains a museum.
It only takes a few minutes to walk from the Botanical Gardens, Canterbury Museum or the Arts Centre to the chapel, and not much longer from the centre of the city.
The chapel is open every day from 1-4. As a church, admission is free but donations are always very welcome.
Pane de Casa - what a Delight!
by Kakapo2 about Brumbys (Bakeries)
Like Baker's Delight, Brumbys is a bakery franchise with a great range of breads and other baking products.
It originates in Australia and is now quickly spreading in New Zealand, so my list of shops in Christchurch will probably be already incomplete when it is going to be published.
Just keep your eyes open, and when you spot one, remember that I told you to taste the extraordinary pane de casa. It is better than the language mix - as "pane" is the Italian word for bread, and "de casa" Spanish for "of the house". Italian would be "di casa"... (I am always amazed what lingual daredevils we have in the English speaking world LOL but this is another story ;-)
Anyway. This bread is similar to ciabatta - just even more deliiiiiiicious. Incredible! No wonder that they permanently run out of it. This, again, makes me wonder why they do not just bake more of it. When you try it late in the day it is as hopeless as on weekends if you do not go shopping early. I have started to buy it on the way to the gym early in the afternoon on weekdays, and at this time of the day I have never been disappointed.
As we have discovered the pane de casa in the early days I cannot say a lot about other breads they offer. Once when they had run out of it I tried the Californian sourdough bread which is rather fluffy - cannot recommend it at all. But they also have dark varieties and breads with a lot of grains which normally would be my first choice. Just not there. The pane de casa is too deliiiiiiiiicious ;-)
Actually there are shops at:
Hornby Mall (Main South Road)
Barrington Mall (256 Barrington Street)
Eastgate Mall (Linwood)
Edgeware Mall, St. Albans (72 Edgeware Road) Pane de casa! NZ$ 4.50 per loaf.
Plane views 3
by Kate-Me
It was the most wonderful sunset and it just kept on going and going...it must have been about 30 minutes before the sky finally faded away to black. The entire length of the horizon from up there had been just brilliant.
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Former ANC Bank Chambers
Once people enjoyed the shade of those trees...
$5.00 Bus to / from Christchurch Airport NZ
Most tours start at the Antigua Boatsheds.
