The drive to Christchurch (aka CHCH or ChCh or, sometimes, just CC), the second largest city in NZ (pop. around 400K folks) and the eastern cultural centre of NZ. We plan to spend 3 days looking at the attractions in the city - the older buildings and, of course, Cathedral Square - the historical and architectural centre of the city and, arguably, the single largest draw for tourists to this part of NZ. Our small motor hotel (the Bellagio - proprietors Ross and Lynley Macleod - a good NS name, EH?) is situated on the north side of the city centre (commonly known as the Central Business District or CBD in TLA-format) and a very easy walk - and shorter drive - to Cathedral Square and other attractions. Perfect location at a reasonable price!
The trip from Cromwell took us first through more vineyards of Central Otago (and did I mention that the greatest PN comes from this region?????), then through the central part of the South Island... roughly parallel to the Southern Alps (previously mentioned) and up, around and down through passes and valleys... each with their own particular micro-climate and seeming endless array of sheep and cattle (in the valleys, anyway). Temperatures varied from 14C to 25C - all daytime temps - depending on the angle of the sunlight (yes, it was sunny throughout the day), the elevation and the terrain.
Our first major pass through the mountains was the Lindis Pass (between Tarras and Omarama) which I likened to the Crows Nest pass but with one significant difference - lines of sight - on the road, that is - not over the edge of the road and down. They were sometimes measured in meters rather than portions of a kilometer; concentration on the road is essential or one could easily become one-of-the-missing! BUT the vistas were tremendous... Peter Jackson got it right!
In the early afternoon, we stopped at a small town situated on the southern tip of Lake Tekapo (a bit like a large mulit-vendor rest stop on major NorAm highways... gas stations, restos, grocery store, gift & trinket shops and a hotel... and lots of busses disgorging and taking-on passengers constantly); we gassed-up, watered-down and took on fuel for the body... small grocery store with appropriately elevated prices - and headed out towards the east - through Burke's Pass (more short lines of sight and wheel-gripping white knuckles) and then into more sloping hills, warmer breezes and sheep.
We got lost - first time on the trip - as we made a turn towards Geraldine but it really was a turn back wast towards the Alps... always present to our left, it seemed, with Mt. Cook prominently capped with snow in the distance. Farmers fields aflame as they burned-off stubble from the first grass crop and lots of sheep. We were treated to a great lesson in crown control as a sheep dog herded a flock of soon-to-be-pregnant ewes from one paddock to another - the one with the ram lounging around - patiently awaiting 'fresh meat'. that's when we figured we had made a wrong turn.
iPad and GPS to the rescue... we were soon backtracking (the sheep dog had done its job and was now sitting quietly in the back of the rancher's pickup waiting for his ride home...) and eventually ended up in the fair ville of Geraldine on the southern end of the Canterbury Plain... we were now entering CHCH territory.
Flat dry land, parched-looking trees - some devoid of leaf (poplar, mostly- used as wind breaks in farmers' fields) - crossing over nearly-dry river beds with nothing but trickles of water below (compared to the fast-flowing streams and rivers we had experienced in the Otago region) and a hot dry wind blowing from the west (remember the Southern Alps... anybody been in Calgary in the high summer?) at 20-35km/hr... dust in the air - not sure if its farmers fields or just river-bed dust... either way, it could be any western town in NorAm from Texas to Alberta. Stopped again for something cold to drink and added more fuel to the Corolla... the former needed more than the latter.
We pushed across the plains and eventually began to notice the population density increasing until - suddenly - we were entering then city of Christchurch. Warm (25C), breezy, early evening sunlight streaming from the west and not too much traffic combined to make our entrance to the city really enjoyable. We found our hosts and their 14 room motor hotel easily after cruising past Hagley Park and the Botanic Gardens (which beckoned "Come See Me" - tomorrow, we replied) on Bealey Avenue - one of the four "Boundary Avenues" of the CBD.
After the requisite trip out to a grocery store, a couple of km distant, and a quick run through the CBD looking for a Starbucks coffee shop - we were running out of fresh coffee for breakfast - which was located but closed for the evening, I returned to our residence-du-jour. We dined on supermarket chicken, crusty rolls, a fresh-from-the-store green salad and some really remarkable savvy... and crashed.
We awoke the next morning - Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - breakfasted, toileted (a nice shower stall in a 'spa' tub...) and organized for the day's sight-seeing. I checked with our hostess to get directions to the best place to park in the downtown area to be central to "all things tourist" and she strongly suggested a parkade on Lichfield street - multi-story, lots of parking, easy access and egress and central to all the sights we wanted to take in.
Time: 12:35... and I was running behind. Isabel got in the car, as did I... I pulled out our rental cell phone to call the sister of a Toronto friend - she lives near CHCH - and I couldn't get the phone to work - so much for techie training... seems the telephone numbering systems are as confusing now as they were 2 decades ago!
Time: 12:45... and I left the better half (fuming, by now, because I was REALLY late) sitting in the car... in the parking lot of the hotel on Bealey Avenue... while I went back to the room to make the call on the room phone. After several attempts, I connected and we started talking about when/where we might get together...
Time 12:51... CHCH experienced a Richter 6.3 bump... better-half sitting in the car rock-&-rolled across the parking lot (no other cars in the lot, TG... remember, I was late)... and I watched as the room walls "accordianed" and everything that was not part of the basic room structure became animated and took-off into the air... only to meet with the resistance of a wall opposite or the floor - which, obligingly, came up to meet these errant articles. Glass and glasses shattered; micro-waves flew into walls, fridges left the security of their cabinets and marched into hallways and into rooms... disgorging their contents enroute; pictures ended up on beds which also marched in all directions to the slow resonance of the earth's movements; irons became missiles and ironing boards their landing pads... suitcases and contents were unceremoniously dumped in every direction... and so it went...for what seemed like never-ending minutes but which, in reality, were discrete seconds...
Time 12:53 or so... "I think we're experiencing an earthquake" I explained to Mandy on the other end of the telephone line... and she replied "Yes, I think we are too... we'll ring back later."
The walls and floor had stopped moving... silence... then crying, sirens, people outside exclaiming... I walked out over the debris which was once the contents of our room... realized that I was fortunate to be alive... and saw the better-half standing beside the car... in shock. Three Bellagio employees who were in the process of cleaning rooms, were standing in a group, hugging and crying... also in shock. Apart from that, silence. I saw a cloud of dust - brown and thick rolling north on Montreal street towards us... then it spread out over us and the dust began to settle on everything; it was the dust of ruin - the dust of history - the dust of the centre of CHCH.
We couldn't see the buildings collapse or the people - injured and frightened - running in all directions, trying to escape the rain of debris as buildings and building faces failed and collapsed into streets filled with mid-day tourists and business people, kids and nannies, cars and taxis... and others just going about their daily activities. we just stood in awe of the event which had just occurred... seeking human comfort... wondering what had really happened...
Below, I have included some snippets of emails sent to family and friends over the next 24-48 hours... these were written in 'real time' as subsequent events unfolded. We did not photograph the disaster - we felt it wasn't right to record, as tourists in this fair land, the demise and catastrophe of CHCH and the pain so many must feel at losing their beautiful historic buildings... not to mention the nearly 200 lives lost and many many more injured. There have been many other photos and videos of the quake and its aftermath... for those who wish to view them, a google search will bring much more than you ever wanted to see.
Here are excerpts from our emails of 22-24 Feb...
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to daughter...
CHCH Earthquake
Sent 22 February 2011, 1315
We're ok.... City sure isn't... More later - bit of chaos right now...
L, d
Sent from my iPad
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To daughter and friends later
Subject: Re: CHCH earthquake....
Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2011 19:55:40 +1300
We are well and relatively safe.
It was a bit of a shock, I must say, and Mom was very frightened & upset... when the main quake started, I was on the phone trying to get in touch with a friend's sister and was watching the walls 'flow' and the glass crash from every direction... as I sit here to type this, the after-shocks continue and each one is a trigger to rush out the door. The dust cloud coming up the street from the CBD was reminiscent of the cloud that followed the collapse of the WTC towers...
The old cathedral steeple, from which ChCh draws a lot of history, collapsed - along with a number of other structures in the CBD. A large number have died (65 with the count rising) and many more injured.
We would have been in the CBD but, for the Grace of God, I was late getting organized this morning and had just finished getting instructions on how to get to the Cathedral - Mom was sitting in the car waiting for me and upset because I was so late... Guess she'll be OK with my tardiness now. (During the main quake, the car bounced around and moved about 3m across the parking lot with her in it.)
We have spent the time since the main bump helping the proprietors cleanup as much as possible; their home inside was devastated - not a cupboard or shelf left standing; also went round with the staff and took photos of the 14 rooms in the motor hotel.
Our low-rise motor hotel has weathered the main quake rather well... lots of minor damage but no apparent structural damage. The owners tell me that it was built (3 years ago) to withstand 8.5 (richter) and it did. There is, however, a long opening in the land next to our room (we're on the outside of the building) about 4-6 inches wide and deep.
We will stay here for the next 2 nights - we have water and (fortunately, I picked up some groceries last night)... so P-B sandwiches, cheese and crackers are the order of the day... :) Will probably sleep (?) with our clothes on, though, and the doors open... The military are now very much in evidence... we are on the edge of the Central Business District.... and the military & helicopter air traffic has been hectic for the last few hours... again, no surprise.
Certainly not what we expected when visiting ChCh, our concerns are for those who are still trapped or the families of those of were killed just 4 blocks from here. I expect you will see a lot of the damage on the TV news - we are restricted from going across the street into the CBD.
There's a lot of after-shock action right now and for the last 2 hours... the ground does not feel 'solid' any longer... so we rush to the exits every few minutes...
Sent from my iPad
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to a VON colleague
Reply to: Are you OK?
Date: Wed, 23 February 2011, 0929
First, yes, we're OK... It was - and still is - a terrible situation, though. We were just about to leave our motel on the edge of the city centre to head down to the tourist areas when the Quake hit... Isabel was in the car waiting for me and I was making a phone call from inside. The car moved about 3m with her in it as it bounced across the parking lot and I watched the walls buckle and rebound in our unit... Everything was up in the lair and the floor was moving like the deck of a lobster boat in a storm. All the kitchenware (glasses, dishes, appliances incl. the microwave and fridge) were on the floor and I had to climb over them to get out...
Needless to say, it was a frightening experience - especially for Isabel.
We were not in the worst of it, though; 4blocks away, large buildings collapsed and a number of people - tourists and locals - were killed and injured. There are still fires burning and the rescue workers have worked straight through trying to extract injured from the rubble... and some successfully! The military and police were did a good job of getting the 'walking' out of the CBD; water and gas were shut down almost immediately and I'm sure that has saved hundreds, maybe thousands, from being killed.
We're staying on Bealey Ave., one of the boundary avenues of the CBD. We spent the afternoon and evening helping the proprietors of our motel clean up... the aftershocks have been constant - probably near 100 since the quake, the early ones were 5.7 and 5.3 - and last night, it was hard to sleep... psychologically and physically. This morning, the sirens of emerg vehicles are quiet... and this area of the city we're in is also. We watch people walking by carrying their bedding... looking dazed. Everything is shut down - businesses, schools and all retail and commercial establishments. Liquefaction is a real problem - a lot of it in the suburbs and some in the CBD... and that's an awful mess, tool.
Anyway, we are currently planning on leaving ChCh tomorrow morning - if we can get out... and head north towards the ferry to North Island. Our thoughts and prayers, though, are with the people here who have to deal with the big "clean-up" and those who have lost family and friends
Sent from my iPad
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to the sister units
Reply to: Worried about you
Date: Fri, 25 February 2011, 2015
We have just arrived in Picton on the Marlborough Sound... the departure/entry for the Inter-Island ferry service between South & North Islands. We left ChCh on Thursday morning... just as the city was beginning to refocus on recovery vs rescue. Although the teams from NZ, AU and Japan continue to probe the ruined buildings, hope for any more rescues has pretty well faded. The death toll continues to rise - now that the officials are able to match dental records, finger prints and, in some cases, only DNA. There are still a number of missing - about 50% foreign - and the appeals to self-identify are constant.
The city is slowly bringing back some services - power is now on for about 80% and water is starting to be turned on... but the main sewer systems are still shut down and may not be back on for months... they suffered severe damage. City residents are being asked to use "port-a-lou's"... or other alternatives; you know, I wonder if our municipal planners have given serious consideration to sewage system alternatives...
Finally, Mayor Bob Parker has asked that visitors consider leaving ChCh in order to free-up accommodation for recovery workers who must be brought in from other parts of the country. We were accommodating.
(btw, I had watched Mayor Parker's response to the earlier 7.1 bump and was impressed by his seeming control over the situation and his messaging to citizens... I have been doubly impressed this time - especially as he suffered physical injury in this last quake... his handling of the information to citizens has been exemplary!)
As much as we are enjoying the travel in NZ - the scenery, people and, of course, food and wine are excellent - we cannot help but be saddened and empathetic for those families and friends (local and visitor) whose lives have been changed and for those who remain in ChCh to try to bring the city back on stream. The impacts, economic and psychological, are evident now and will take considerable time to be mitigated... if ever.
Sent from my iPad
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Those memories, likes all the other from this voyage of exploration - seniors style - will remain etched in our minds until that is no longer possible... and our thoughts will remain with those stalwart and courageous Cantabrians who have braved this natural disaster so well so far... I hope they can continue to do so.
"Quel che non ammazza, ingrassa."
Our next leg is through Kaikoura and into "Marlborough Country"... not the tobacco - the wine... stay tuned....
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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