Westport New Zealand: Just some photos of buildings,

We had a great trip to visit Vaughn, the lead doctor at the clinic where we work, at his home in Christchurch. We had a chance to see the devastation to the city center from the earthquakes of 2010-2011. The damage is quite dramatic, and despite the understandable delays in redeveloping the infrastructure of a city built 150 years ago, you can get a sense of the pride the residents have in their city and their chance to create something really special with the redevelopment.

This is an area that has been razed and now home to shops and places to eat housed in brightly colored shipping containers, ReStart.

We had a great visit.

Along our travels in New Zealand, I have taken some photos of unique but also typical buildings we find in the small towns on the South Island. I am particularly fond of the brightly colored Dairies, their answer to our 7/11s . Also the older taverns, part hotel, part bar and part restaurant, are great places and bring a sense of community to some of the very little towns.We have stayed in several excellent bed and breakfasts that are housed in beautiful Victorian homes. Among my favorite structures are the Four Square markets, which I have to photograph away from Westport. Though we do not have a traffic light here, we are big enough that the larger two grocery chains have displaced the Four Square.