New Brighton

It's wonderful to have a car in Christchurch. Although
we probably could have gotten around by bus, it makes it
very easy to go and come when we want and not at the whim
of bus schedule. After running some errands, we took off
for the seaside suburb area of New Brighton. It's one of
several areas of Christchurch that we find attractive to
possibly live in some day. They have a fantastic pier that
juts out into the Pacific and today there were lots of
families hanging out and soaking up the sun.


Another huge draw of New Brighton is it's awesome library.
In 2000 it won the NZ Architectural design of the year. It's
attached to the pier and has huge windows overlooking the
ocean. All in a very modern design and really good selection
of books. It's part of the Christchurch Public Library
system so anything can be checked out or retrieved from
either library.


New Brighton has had a storied past. It has never been the
seaport of Christchurch since it's not a harbor. More just
a beach town. However, there has been a pier here for over
a hundred years. As little as 10 years ago, it had a rather
"shady" side and was a little rough in areas. Now, it's
becoming more gentrified and you can see that in all of the
nicer shops that are going in on the Pedestrian shopping mall
that is adjacent to the beach. More middle to upper end
locations pushing out the some of the junkier "junk" stores
and lots of nice places to eat and drink coffee. It's a
nice little town and we'll be visiting more in the future.