Sunday 7th April – Day 18
All packed for the return trip home. We drove back into the ‘red zone’ to have a look at the temporary replacement for the Christ Church
Cathedral.
The new building is titled, the Cardboard Church, due to the construction method. Japanese architect Shigeru Ban returned with the donation of a design for a soaring meeting space constructed of cardboard and
shipping containers. Ban is renowned in architecture for his remarkable paper tube structures and buildings.
The cardboard cathedral is expected to cost roughly NZ$4 million (about US$3.8 million), compared to an estimated NZ$25M (US$20.5M) for a
permanent replacement. Not the same in my opinion, but it is only a
building after all.

Got to the Airport and returned the car. Inside the terminal, Beryl couldn’t find her new glasses, which cost a bomb, and she figured that
she had dropped them at the church site. Mark went back to the Hertz
counter and was told that nothing had been found in the car, but another service guy had overheard the conversation and called the lot on his
2 way radio, to find that the car cleaner had indeed picked up a glasses
case near the car. Happy days for Beryl, as she could read again.

The Qantas flight was luxury in comparison to the Air New Zealand flight on the way over. We got a hot meal and drinks.

The approach to Sydney was from the north west, so we got to fly over the harbour. Lovely sight on a clear, sunny afternoon. When is our next holiday?