Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Holiday 2011, part 1

Long before the February 22nd earthquake struck, we had planned a road trip holiday around the bottom of the South Island. After the earthquake struck, we were more eager than ever to get out of town. So we did.

A few general observations from our travels:

1. Otago and Southland are incredibly beautiful. So, so, so beautiful. I probably said "stunning" about 800 times in 18 days. I took hundreds of photos. I took so many photos that by the end of the holiday I had camera fatigue and had to stop taking photos.

2. You can never see too many waterfalls.





3. You can never see too many lighthouses.




4. Camping with a 10-month old is maybe not a very good idea if you like to sleep. If, on the other hand, you think it's fun to stay up all night trying to settle a crying baby, or if you like to drive the baby around the Otago peninsula all night long, then camping with a 10-month old baby might be just the thing for you.

5. A good way to let travellers know what your town is all about is to build a giant sculpture of the thing that your town is all about.


Cromwell: we're all about fruit.

Rakaia: we're all about salmon.

6. Getting caught in a sheep jam is pretty cool.

sheep jam

Thursday, March 10, 2011

The good, the bad

In some ways, it was tough coming back to Christchurch. The airport was filled with salvation army, red cross, and search and rescue personnel again. On the way home, we drove over broken and bumpy roads that used to be smooth, past heaps of bricks that used to be buildings. And the aftershocks keep coming. We just had a doozy a moment ago. Even though we've felt thousands of them now, they still make my heart stop.

We went for a walk and looked at all the damage in our neighbourhood. Cracked streets, a polluted river (they're dumping raw sewage into it... yuk).

There is a gorgeous old brick house on the corner of Centaurus and Aynsley Terrace. I've been told that it used to be a restaurant. It's huge and stately and has beautiful gardens. It took a hit after the first earthquake but looked repairable. Now I think we can fairly say... it's munted.

fallen roof

red stickered

This is just one old brick building in a city that had hundreds of them. Virtually all of them are damaged, it seems. It's such a shame that the earthquake has taken all the character buildings, leaving the strong boring ones.

I'm trying to always remember that the story of Christchurch's earthquake is not all death and destruction. There has definitely been some good news too. For one, Christchurch's prostitutes are experiencing a boom in business. (Best line from this story: "sex worker Candice, 24, said she has been run off her feet ...")

There's been an amazing outpouring of love and generosity. From Auckland to Chicago, people are collecting money for Cantabrians. Closer to home, Quinn's daycare has offered 4 free weeks of care to Christchurch families. This is a huge savings to us - about $800. Amazing. According to their website, they're making the offer just because "it's the right thing to do." Good on them.

The newspaper is filled with stories about volunteers - the student volunteer army, the "farmy army", and others. It seems everyone is doing something to make someone else's life a little easier. In many ways, it's a great time to be a member of this community. Even if the streets are cracked and lined with port-a-loos.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Recovering

We just weren't sure that our house would not fall down with every new aftershock, so we spent the first few days after Tuesday's quake staying with friends up the road. It turns out that the construction of your house can really affect your experience of aftershocks. When an aftershock hit while sitting in our house, it felt like Armageddon. When an aftershock hit while sitting in Emma's house, it felt like someone had bumped your chair. If money were no object, we'd build ourselves a nice concrete house right now.

A few months ago we had booked flights to Auckland to visit Gareth's sister and brother-in-law for the B-I-L's 40th birthday party. We had planned to only come up for the weekend, but as the weekend neared and we still had no power or water at home, we decided to extend that a bit. Thankfully, JetStar did not give us any grief about changing our tickets. I'm pretty certain the call centre lady would not have wanted to meet the can of whoop ass that Gareth was ready to deliver if she had given us any trouble.

So we went to Auckland. On the one hand, it was really, really good to be on solid ground. It was so good to hug our niece and nephew and be with family. We are so grateful for their hospitality.

On the other hand, it's hard to be away from home. Our friends and neighbours are suffering through hard times right now, and we've skipped out of town to be more comfortable. Granted, about 20% of the city has skipped town, so we're by no means unique. But there was this strange part of us that wanted to be there through this time and be a part of what's happening. And of course, no matter how gracious the hosts (and our hosts are as gracious as they come), there's no place like home. I kind of miss my bed.

I think Christchurch's earthquake has been New Zealand's 9/11. The outpouring of love and support from the rest of the country has been extraordinary. We are just 2 displaced people in Auckland, but have experienced heaps of warm fuzzies. For one, everywhere you go, there are collection boxes for Christchurch. And these boxes don't just have spare change in them. I've seen twenties.

Two colleagues from the Auckland branch of my company have offered us their houses. Friends of Gareth's sister have also offered us accommodation. The Auckland zoo gave us special discounted admission rates just because we're from Christchurch. I'm a sap at the best of times, but you know these last 9 days have been especially trying when a $4 discount reduces me to tears. Thankfully, stress relief is available: the neighbour's friend is a masseuse offering free massages to Christchurch refugees. oh yes, I'm feeling the love.

I blogged some time ago about the neighbours' cat dying on our driveway. It was awkward, and perhaps understandably, our relationship with those neighbours never got very friendly. The earthquake has completely changed all that. Karen has been calling Gareth almost daily with updates. They're holding our keys to let the EQC in, managing a contractor to remove loose bricks and weatherproof the house while we're gone, and really, just being all-around awesome. Nothing like a tragedy to bring people together.

The newspapers and other media coverage imply that there will be mass migration from Christchurch, but we don't know anyone who plans to move permanently. We certainly have no plans to leave. We're really excited to be a part of Christchurch's comeback. Strange how connected we feel to the place having only lived there for less than two years. But we've bought a home there and our son was born there, and we're not leaving.