6.3 Magnitude Earthquake Wrecks lovely Christchurch City

Map of Pacific Ring of Fire where 90% of the Worlds earthquakes occur!

Thanks to all who have contacted us this week from overseas. We are the lucky ones, relatively safely tucked up here in the North of New Zealand where our natural enemy is not so much earthquakes but volcanic eruption! (Auckland lies on a ring of 50 dormant volcano cones and craters!! The last big bang in Auckland was just 600 years ago! ) New Zealand has long been known as the 'Shaky Isles' because of its position on the Pacific Ring of Fire.

Map of Auckland city and suburbs and the 50 Volcanic cones

Auckland City

Rangitoto in distance, erupted 600 years ago.

Tuesday was a really horrid day for New Zealand. Pip and I woke up without a care, popped down the road for an early morning swim at Kohi beach, had a quick SUP (Stand Up Paddleboard) thanks to new friend Christine and then met an old school friend who had a rescue dog we wanted to sweep up and take home with us!

Sadly our car keys (avec car alarm pad) had come swimming with us so poor Pip had to pop into another car and drive the 2.5 hours north to Whangarei to collect our spare set!! Whoops! Later I managed to mislay my cellphone in the middle of busy Khyber Pass (luckily a courier found it and is posting it back to me!).

While all this was going on a second big quake hit Christchurch and changed the face of that city forever.  Made our stuff ups of the day look pretty inconsequential. Take a look at this link to see the Fault lines running throughout our country. The fault line that caused the quake is not showing on the link and has been hidden for 16,000 years!

graph and map of Feb earthquake in Christchurch

Graph and map of September 4th Earthquake

 

Graph of earthquake forces in
September, Map of Quakes;Scene in CBD; Survivors.

Along with most of NZ we were numb with sadness and shock as the full magnitude of the devastation and loss of life unfolded in the media. Everyone who has ever been to Christchurch knows what a lovely old English styled city it is, old stone buildings clustered around Hagley Park and the Historic centre of town. Its hard to believe the iconic Cathedral with its lovely spire has been ruined and so many buildings destroyed. Worse still  is the toll of innocent people who have lost their lives simply going about their daily business.

Sadly people were trapped in buses;Liquifaction swirls through the city swallowing cars and property;The broken Cathedral;Rescue Teams muster.

I have felt quite stupid ploughing on with our home renovation as if its important, when people where dying under the rubble of Christchurch's buildings just a couple of hours south by plane. But plough on we did. What else can you do? You just have to go on doing what you do I guess. Life has to keep on going forward. In such a small country everyone is affected. The Government has callled a National state of Emergency to deal with the distruction of a whole city. We've had the telly on TV One all week keeping up with the rescues efforts but sadly no-one has been found alive since Wednesday and there are still over 200 people missing.
  

Scenes from around Christchurch showing extend of destruction of the city.

The current death toll is 113 but will rise as they pull more bodies from the wrecked buildings.

Oysters

Les huîtres fraîches de la baie. (Fresh Oysters from the bay) Morning tea in the sun.

Gorgeous weekend at the Heads spent hunting and gathering. We had more success with the gathering than hunting and last night feasted on rock oysters I'd gathered during the day and smoked pipi's from the nearby sandbank dug at low tide and a little smoked Marlin gifted by a neighbour.A cool chardonnay accompanied by a fresh oyster (or six) in the evening sunshine on the poop deck, then a little golden smoked pipi atop cream cheese on a cracker chased with a slice of marlin on aioli is quite divine.God I do love New Zealand. Its really quite sensational!

Much to Pips annoyance I got him to haul out the old windsurfer board so I could try my hand at stand up paddleboarding (SUP)! Soo cool. Once you get your balance sorted its a great way to get a serious lower body muscles workout. Our old superstar is a bit narrow and tippy for more than paddling around the bay but I love it! Skimming over the water steering with your feet, swishing either side with the long paddle, you get a great view of the stingrays cruising the bay.

Pip sulla moto; Julie sulla  moto d'acqua, Suzie sulla kayak, Pip sulla moto d'acqua!. (sulla is on the in Italian)

Just found these pics (abive) from our weekend at Whangapoua where all things motorised are in favour. I'm really more of a kayak girl and Pip, Shona and I have kayaked each morning loving the super high tide the full moon brings and the calm morning sea and soft air.

Renovating before Relocating

Renovating our old home in Auckland in the heat of the summer seems a little crazy but I find myself loving every minute of it. The sad part is we are selling the house so wont get to enjoy our labours!! While we were away family members lived in the house but it needed a complete makeover to bring it up to scratch for sale. Pip and Nick and I are camping there without cooking facilities and only one operational bathroom!

I've been overseeing the project and swishing black paint on retaining walls and timber fences outside while Pip has manfully ripped up bathroom cabinets and old flooring, finagled bits of timber into edgings and skirtings for the bathroom and decking for the courtyard. Thankfully the interior painting should be finished today and flooring starts to go down this week.So we'll be getting stuck in yanking up the old carpet and getting into the landscaping which my parents have been chipping away at too.

Exterior of house as it was before.

Cousin Mark has helped with carpentry skills inside and out and Simon and Scott from Kitchens Refreshed have refaced the kitchen turning it from it from a wild blue 80's horror into a more acceptable white zone. They sprayed the existing carcases white and built new doors and drawer fronts with stainless handles. We opted to stay with the existing benchtop and sink for budgetary reasons but bought new stainless appliances.

The pictures above are of the beginning of the process, next week I'll have some progress shots.We aim to put some of our furniture (currently enroute from Antwerp to Sydney in a red container) in the house while it is marketed by the local real estate agency in Kohi in March.

Wee Woody Sinks in Tropical Cyclone

Sadly our dear little boat sank during the night of the first cyclone at its mooring in front of the house. Pip woke after a night long vigil to find the only visible sign of the boat its blue nose bobbing in the waves. Swept clean of interior fittings only the engine was still intact.

The pictures below show Pip submerged at the rear of the Wee Woody as the little blue boat is towed into the beach.

Floods, Farming and Fabulous Coromandel

Picture this...the second tropical cyclone is bearing down on the north of New Zealand, Pip is driving south from Whangarei Heads to pick me up through escalating rain. At the top of a rather steep hill the car's warning lights start flashing messages alerting him that all was not well with the trusty steed. The windscreen wipers failed then the Brake Failure message followed. With no stopping power under the pedal Pip blindly careered to a stop in a lucky lay-by as the hill flattened out. Many expletives later, the car electrics dead, windows open to the torrential rain, soaked to the skin, Pip managed to call a tow truck whilst I sped northwards in Moosie the Mitsy to collect him from the Warkworth tow garage.

Our intended destination that day was Whangapoua, just two and a bit hours south east of Auckland on the Coromandel Peninsula. By the time we finally left Auckland we were well behind schedule and the Cyclone was increasing in strength. We knew we had to get along the Coromandel coast road and over the ranges that day as flooding and slips would close the road after the storm. Pushing on we embarked on one of the most unpleasant drives in memory (only equaled by a midnight drive to New York Feb 7th 2007 through a terrible snow storm for a job interview). Creeping around precipitous corners, past little slips, over the mist shrouded Coro hill we finally drove smack bang into a raging stream flooded road leading to Vicky s house at Whangapoua. Water over a foot deep crept inside the car, the undercarriage graunched on the gouged out road, all the while the engine screamed and clunked until we finally felt our wheels hit the tarmac of her driveway and higher ground. Bloody Hell!

Pip and Steve off to survey the damage; Flood waters receded to show gouged out road;Pip and Ju;The flooded road.

We arrived at the house to a lovely scent of fragrant woodsmoke in the air. Sadly the smoke was from a dining tabletop fire. Vic's lovely centre-piece and welcoming candles had caught alight and nearly burnt the place down just minutes before our arrival. The power went out soon after plunging the village below us into darkness, within a heartbeat, the house on the hill was back in business as a powerful generator provided us with  power for the next 16 hours.Those below were not so lucky.

The Great Room; Flowers to welcome us, interior shots of house; fun around the campfire; breakfast before farming expedition;Peacock feathers gathered from the flocks of birds on surrounding paddocks; Hats for everyone; the dining table before the fire!

The following day we were horrified to see the damage done by flooded streams on the flats below the house. We kitted up in farm appropriate gear, gummies, gloves and rakes, and headed out to clear fences for the local farmer.

Vicky;Julie;Vicky, Pip, Suzie, Nick; Matt; Thurlow; Nick;  getting stuck in down on the farm!

 Lovely homebaked bread and home grown salad veggies washed down with lots of gorgeous sav blanc, pinot gris and chardonnay made it all worth while.

Homegrown lunch; Planting round the house; Relaxing in the outdoor courtyards.

When the sun came out Steve popped us in his chopper and whisked us over the Coro hills to Whitianga (Fity-ang-a)to refuel his little gray bird, then took us for a scenic tour over Cathedral Cove and out to the Mercury Islands.

Great Mercury Island; Whangapoua Beach; Refueling at Whitianga; Juju with front seat view; Cathedral Cove; Approaching Whangapoua Beach.