This film/documentary trailer gives you just an inkling of the trauma the people of Christchurch have been through and are still going through over 1 year and 7000+ earthquakes later.
It's amazing how people who've been literally shaken out of their homes have kept going despite constant aftershocks and flooding, along with unemployment and insurance wrangles...and still it's not over.
Be glad for what you have!
On 1st May 2011, we went Dolphin watching in Akaroa, New Zealand.After negotiating a great out of season deal with akaroadolphins.co.nz (which included a bottle beer / glass of wine & homemade cookie each!), we headed out into Akaroa Bay on one of their boats with their trusty Dolphin spotting do 'Murphy' who can apparently hear the Dolphin's sonar before humans can.Before long we spotted a small pod of Hector's Dolphins - the endangered subspecies only found in waters around New Zealand.The Dolphins headed towards our boat and began swimming around us, jumping and playing, clearly enjoying the encounter.Having never seen Dolphins in the wild before, it was an amazing experience and I was surprised at how fast they were able to swim, using the wake of the boat to propel themselves forward in the water.Over it was a brilliant trip and one I'd highly recommend everyone does given the chance!More about Hector's Dolphins: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hector's_dolphin
The Banks Peninsula Track is a 35 kilometre tramping track on the Banks Peninsula on the South Island of New Zealand in the Canterbury region.
Both the two day and four day track options start and end in Akaroa and reach a maximum altitude of 699 metres at Trig GG, traversing a rugged coastline, forests, bush, pastures, and the Hinewai Reserve.On the 27th April, 2011 less than 48 hours after landing in New Zealand we headed out on the Tramp.Our Kiwi relatives told us it was "pretty easy going underfoot". It wasn't! It was one of the hardest things I've ever done...but also one of the most rewarding as you'll see from this footage.We had an amazing time and I'd highly recommend the tramp to anyone looking to go walking in NZ. I just wish I'd filmed more of the huts we stayed in as they were awesome! Check out some of Steph's photos to see what I missed.Banks Peninsula Tramp @ WikipediaUPDATE: The 6.0 quake was soon upgraded to 6.3 - the same size as the deadly quake in February which killed over 180 people.
Damage has been widespread and although this quake occured on a different faultline to the February quake, Lyttleton, Sumner & the Eastern Suburbs have felt the brunt with many damaged buildings now having fully collapsed.
Photos from before/after this week's quake here and here.
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Christchurch, New Zealand has suffered two further Earthquakes today with a 5.5 magnitude quake striking around 1pm followed by an even stronger 6.0 magnitude at 2:20pm.
Widespread damage has been reported in the cordoned off city centre, the Eastern suburbs and near the epicenter. A further 26 aftershocks have struck in the 8 hours since 2:20pm and they continue every few minutes into the night.
I spoke to Steph's uncle around 9:30am this morning (8:30pm NZ time) and the family are all fine, but their 100 year old house has suffered even more damage. The back of the house has sunk further, a wall has collapsed smashing their TV and they've lost windows and possesions. They currently have no running water and the power was out for around 2 hours during the afternoon.
Elsewhere the Avon river has broken it's banks causing flooding and sewers and roads that have only recently been repaired have been damaged again. Some 20,000 people are spending the night without power with temperatures predicted to drop to zero degrees tonight.
Being here in the UK leaves me feeling very powerless to help, I guess that's why I've written this all down.
Here's some links I found online from today's Quakes.
Footage during the 5.5 quake today from the Maori powhiri for the arrival of Environment Canterbury's new CEO Bill Bayfield at the Rehua Marae in Christchurch.
A little kid called Fin caught the 6.0 whilst playing with his camera:
Yet more liquefaction and sewage spewing from the ground:
A video near the epicenter shows how frequently the aftershocks rattle houses in the immediate aftermath:
Jeff at Centre Point Motel (who we met whilst in Christchurch) was doing his best to ensure his kids have some kind of normality during all this madness:
Kia Kaha Christchurch!
We've just returned from a fantastic three weeks visiting Steph's relatives in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Every single day was taken up with an activity of some sort; whale/dolphin watching, hiking, quad biking, swimming, cycling, climbing, shooting, coast-to-coast train journeys, shopping, eating, drinking, socialising...we had a wonderful time and met some wonderful people, all whilst getting to know family on the other side of the world...oh and 'rocking & rolling' to the frequent aftershocks Christchruch is still experiencing after the big Earthquakes of September 2010 and February 2011.
We both have a ton of photos and videos to post, but before I get around to this I thought I'd post the list of Kiwi words/sayings I noted down on the trip as their version of English is pretty fun!
"Kiwi Speak"
"Munted" = Wrecked/Destroyed/F*cked (Generally used to describe Earthquake damage!)
"Jug" = Kettle
"Grunty" = Powerful/Hard
"Far Out!?" = Awesome/Really?
"You donut!" = You idiot!
"Turned to custard" = Gone to shit (generally referring to the weather!)
"Chilly Bin" = Cool Box
"Gum boots" = Wellies
"Bach" = A Holiday/2nd home
