We're still here!

Wow, I hadn't realised that 3 months had passed since my last blog....I bet you have all been on tenter hooks!

Not much to report really.

Christchurch CBD remains locked down whilst the demolition teams go about their task of flattening all the broken buildings. The Eastern suburbs are still a mess. Summit Road and Sumner Road remain closed so there have been no Short or Long Bays cycle rides for quite some time. I did go for my first swim at Jellie Park since the EQ at the start of this week. I'm sure they have increased the viscosity of the water. Still, it was great to be swimming outdoors in the sunshine on a remarkably warm late autumn day.

I have had one other swim since the EQ - but that was whilst over in Oz during our Easter trip. We had a great time.

Five days with the Guyomars at their lovely place in Ormiston to the south-east of Brisbane during which we took in a trip to North Stradbroke Island, a mooch around the Tamborine Mountains and a visit to the Gold Coast.

Cocktail hour was a regular theme. Would you expect anything less?!

We also got together with some relatives of mine down at Paradise Point - Madeline and Nicola hosted a BBQ for us - though the trditional old Coast sunshine did desert us that day. Fab get-together though.

We then had 3 nights in Sydney - staying close to Darling Harbour. What a great city Sydney is. The weather did its best to put us off, but it failed. The ferry trip out to Manly was a little choppier than expected, but the sunset views of the city on the return were worth it.



We met up with Vicky, Kevin and Olivia - one of Maria's nurse-training pals - and spent the evening in a bar on Circular Quay watching the (NZ) Breakers win the Australian basketball championship - oh, and the girls got to watch a wedding that they were beaming over from the UK.

We also managed to catch up with more of the 'McCormack clan' - the New South Wales chapter - with Mary and Jimmy hosting another BBQ for us - and Jane doing a fantastic job of taxiing us all around the place - apart from driving down the one-way street in the wrong direction!

So what else has been happening here....? Best check the diary to remember.

Ah yes, early March, Maria, Sarah and I headed off to Tekapo for a night away from the shaking. We stopped at the Chalet - 3rd time we have stayed there now - I think they are going to rename the romm as the Burns Suite. Had some fun in the hot-pools and also visited Mount Cook village - which was very scenic with the mountain backdrop.

Also in March, there was an Earthquake Memorial Service held in Hagley Park - just across the road from where we live - which we attended before heading off to Hanmer for another shake free evening - compliments of Solid Energy where Maria works. More lazing in hot tubs. Glorious! Plus a bit of mountain biking in the forest.

I had a couple of trips up to Auckland with my Simply Lean colleagues in April. First one was for a few days work with a client in Warkworth - about an hours drive north of Auckland. Interesting little place. It was noticeably warmer than Christchurch in the evenings! The following week saw me at a Lean Accounting Conference in Mount Wellington (Auckland) for a couple of days.

I've continued to do some part time work with Business Mentors - there has been a big increase in demand for the services since the EQ's - so there's plenty for me to do. I've also got involved in a project to help organise and run the Tour of New Zealand - a 9 day cycle event happening next April here in NZ. The event was formally launched at NZ Parliament in Wellington mid-May - so that involved a trip up to the capital with one of the race directors - and my new next door neighbour - Ghene Snellen. Having earlier said that the Manly ferry ride was choppy, well it was like a mill pond in comparison to the crossing we had from Picton to Wellington on our way to the launch! I was glad when we finally made it into the shelter of Wellington Harbour.

The launch event made it onto the evening TV news - and so did the back of my head! Actually, so did the front side - but blink and you'd miss it.

The event promises to be a fantastic showcase of NZ, particularly the opportunities for cycling over here - the Government have launched a programme to create a series of Great Rides throughout the country - some of which are going to be incorporated into the Tour. Anyway, Desmond Street in leafy Fendalton is now 'Tour Central'!

I have been doing quite a bit of running recently - I had planned to do the Christchurch marathon - which is tomorrow - but over the past few weeks my enthusiasm for entering the event waned to the point that I haven't actually registered. It's being held out at Lincoln township due to the usual course being 'out-of-bounds' due to EQ damage. I may actually just get my bike out in the morning and have a cycle over there to watch some of the event and then spin a few more miles - sorry, kilometres - afterwards. I've done a few cross-country events with the Port Hill Runners over the past month or so - the Hagley Park Relays and the Lionel Fox Relays - the latter being held up at Woodend Beach. It was a great course - through the sand-dunes and forest. And my did it rain - which surprisingly added to the event!

Chris has managed to secure a new job as a trainee shift manager at Burger King. Wendy's laid all their staff off due to the premises being badly damaged in the Feb EQ - and it's in the part of town that is likley to remain off-bounds until at least 2012. So he's got some direction again after a month or so kicking his heels.

Sarah finally got back to school a month after the EQ - and that was almost delayed further by a 5.1 magnitude aftershock hitting the place the night before it was due to re-open. The school has sustained quite a bit of damage - certain parts are due to be pulled down and repaired - eventually. Like lots of other schools, portakabins have been installed in playgrounds or on sportfields to accommodate the lessons in the meantime. In a couple of cases, schools have closed completely due to damage and they are having to use the facilities of other schools - the host school runs their timetable from 8am to 12pm, the visiting school starts at 1pm until 5pm!

Talking of damage and repairs, we have been told that we cannot use the 'south wing' of our house due to the damage that it suffered in the Feb EQ. So that's 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and the double garage that we no longer have the use of. Chris has relocated into the TV room and Sarah is now in my office. I've been relegated to the dining room table - for work that is, not sleeping! Not sure what Nicky's plans are to get the placed fixed up so it remains unclear whether we will have to relocate in the short term.

We also received the news this week that there is a 23% chance of there being another magnitude 6 to 7 earthquake happening in Canterbury within the next 12 months! Just what you need when you are trying to get things back to normal - not!

Anyway....it's Sarah's 15th birthday on Monday and we have a bank holiday on which to celebrate it, so hopefully we'll have a pleasant family day which I can report on at a later date. We are also hosting our new neighbour Ghene and his family for dinner on Sunday - and we were out partying yesterday (a bit too hard to be honest!) at one of Maria's (soon to be ex-) work pals place. So the social scene is definitely going strong...and after a few wines you tend to not notice the aftershocks!