In Christchurch, we asked our cab driver to take us to the site of the murder depicted in Heavenly Creatures, a 1994 movie starring a not-yet-famous Kate Winslet. The movie was the true story of teenage female friends who murdered one of the girls’ mothers in the 1950s. The crime occurred next to a scenic park at the top of a steep hill dotted with expensive houses (which makes the grisly act that much harder to fathom). After we got as close to the site as possible (not very), we made our way back downhill and came upon a fantastic gothic building called Sign of the Takahe. Hmm, Wikipedia seems more informative than the actual home page for the building. But neither one quite says what the cab driver told us—namely, that men who monitored the highways took breaks in this elaborate structure. Hope I have that right! Anyway, now it’s an expensive restaurant and a wedding venue.
Sorry, this picture isn’t the best. But it shows the main entrance, as well as the steepness of the area.
The back garden is an ideal spot for a wedding—or for drinking tea!
Japanese tourists? That was my guess.
The computers look kind of odd in this setting, don’t they?!
