Living in a Disaster Zone!

OK, so we knew we were going on an adventure, but we didn't count on being caught up in the biggest NZ earthquake for a few decades!

4.35am on 4th September - unlikely to forget that bit of information in a hurry - plus the 7.1 richter measurement bit - plus the 2 minutes of shake, rattle and roll!

It was seriously scary :-0

I've heard a few descriptions from people interviewed on TV of it sounding like a train hitting the house and of then spending a couple of minutes in a very noisy tumble dryer. I think that more or less captures it.

There were a few expletives as we jumped out of bed. I shouted at Maria to get under the bed quickly - then realised we wouldn't fit! Maria went off in search of Sarah who was shouting out - probably only marginally more scared than us! Remember, it's half 4 in the morning - pitch black - the power is off - and your being thrown around the room. Actually, good job it was dark as I was stark naked and I'm sure not a pretty sight for our impressionable daughter, despite the predicament we found ourselves in!

So as the girls met on the landing and then headed downstairs towards shelter under the sturdy dining roon table, I dived into the underpant drawer for emergency supplies and then quickly followed!

We huddled under the table whilst the earthquake did it's best to shake the house down. It failed, thank God! So after 3 wintery months of complaining about the lack of double glazing and central heating in these wooden frame dolls-houses that Kiwi's call home, I'm thankful for the lack of rigid brickwork of a sturdy, well insulated UK style house - which would probably have come crashing down on top of us!

The shaking stopped and we wondered what to do next. Then it shook again, but fortunately not as violently this time and for not as long.

A bit more calm and we suddenly realised that we were cold - so I made a dash for some blankets from the bedroom. More shaking as I returned and I quickly resumed my position of hugging the table leg (Maria and Sarah has secured the central section of the underside of the table and left me perched at the edge - a sort of women and children first set up I suppose!).

Still pitch black remember.

The tremors started to subside a little and the gaps between them were lengthening. I pulled one of the sofas over to the table to provide further shelter - plus we grabbed the cushions for a bit more comfort.

We probably stayed under there for the next 20 minutes or so - discussing how bad our emergency prepartions had been - no torches to hand, limited supplies packed 'in case' (despite constant reminders from Government via TV ads, etc!) - and going to bed naked (too much detail, I know!).

Once it seemed to have settled down, we headed back to bed. Suitably dressed this time! I sent a few texts - one to Chris - who was at work - making sure he was OK. He was. Plus I let my bro' John know as I guessed he may pick up the news on the web.

There continued to be small after-shocks, but nothing as severe as the first shake. We managed to sleep a little until around 7am when it quickly went light. A few texts came in from fellow Christchurch dwellers asking if we were OK. Nicky - the landlady - enquired about our wellbeing plus any property damage. We didn't know - we were still in bed! We do like our Saturday morning lie-ins, earthquake or no earthquake!

Once we had got up we surveyed the scene. Some plaster damage and debris on the carpet in the living room, kitchen drawers open but contents all OK....in fact all looked remarkably OK on first inspection. A wander outside was soon to reveal that there had been some damage to the house structure plus a lot of ground shift. In a nut shell, it looked as though the extension (garage and overhead bedrooms and bathroom) had tried to detatch itself from the original house.



There was a large crack uo the side of the house - at the join - plus a similarly large crack along the garage floor. Looking at the ground around the house, it also appeared that there was a fault line running straight through the line of the extension join - which continued across both neighbours properties with quite startling effects - one involving a rather contorted swimming pool and the other the strange sight of scaffolding dangling unsupported over a deep void! A sizeable gap had also appeared in the wall between our properties.


We still had no power and the water supply was off too. So we decided to get on the bikes and head for town - in search of some hot coffee and information! That in itself was an trial - the garage door is electronically controlled - so I had to fumble about in the dark searching for bikes and helmets and then wheel them through the house.

There was some noticeable damage to some of the houses in the locale, mainly stemming from falling chimnies. One of our neighbours had a stack that had not toppled but resembled the end-game of a round of Jenga!

Some of the paths through Hagley Park were cracked and buckled plus there was quite a covering of silt in places which had been washed over from the nearby boating lake - a mini tsunami must have taken place!

We spotted a bit of damage to the Arts Centre and the Canterbury Club - mainly due to falling masonary.


Nothing too severe though. Cathedral Square seemed unscathed but the police had cordoned off a nearby area of the CBD where there had been some more serious damage. We couldn't find a coffee and there wasn't much information to be had too, so we decided to head on back to Desmond Street to get the camping stove out!

We actually spent the next hour in the campervan - drinking coffee and listening to the radio - where we first learned of the extent of the quake and what was happening about thye place. A State of Emergency had been declared - not sure what that meant - but it sounded good! We sat there commenting upon the fact that you usually observe these types of events from the comfort of your own home via the miracle that is TV (not actually a miracle - being an engineer I can explain how TV works but I won't at the moment whilst I talk about the quake - if that's OK!) - but here we were - right slap bang in the middle of it! Gulp!

Anyway, we then thought we should go and do some panic buying as we didn't have a pantry full of provisions like we were supposed to and headed off to Pak'N save at Riccarton. Shut, of course. There had just been an earthquake - hadn't we heard?
We did manage to find a petrol station that was open on the way back home and decided to do a panic fill-up, plus buy a few bottles of lemonade just in case we ran out of water!

And then as we passed along Riccarton Road we spotted that the Sushi bar and GFC cafe were open. Whoopi - real coffee! Well, you wouldn't have thought that there was a State of Emergency in there! Very relaxed - apart from the hard working kitchen staff who were busily trying to prepare all the brunch and coffee orders. No, definitely no State of Emergency there!

So, armed with Sushi and Flat Whites, we headed back to Desmond Street again to decide upon our next course of action.

It actually turned out to be putting the kettle on - power had been restored - as Matt and Lou turned up and we decided that a good cup of tea was the order of the moment - very British!

The aftershocks continued throughout the afternoon, but again, very small in comparison to earlier. With power regained, we were able to vacuum up the plaster debris plus we caught some of the TV coverage of the quake - it certainly looked impressive on the news!

I discovered that we had a mains water leak which explained our lack of running water - it's still out now on Sunday afternoon - we're waiting for a plumber to come and look at it!

Matt and Lou remained without both power and water for the day so they decided to stay with us for the night. Essential supplies of beer, gin, tonic and chocolate cake were brought by Matt and Lou - at least the survivors party would go with a swing! Various references to drinking ourselves under the table were made by our UK FB friends once our safety strategy had been explained!

Needless to say, the tremors continued throughout the night, but some of us (me!) had quite a good, gin-soaked night's sleep!

To be continued.....

While the cat's away...

So the cat's out of the bag...and has journeyed half way round the world to be at her parent's 50th wedding anniversary last weekend. Indeed, Maria and Sarah travelled back a couple of weeks ago now, but it all had to be hush-hush so as not to spoil the surprise for those that were none the wiser!

So it's been a bit quiet around here for most of August. Quite tidy too!!! It's amazing how little shopping I have had to do - and the shelves are still quite well stocked. The washing machine only goes on twice a week - one dark wash and a light wash. What could be simpler?!

Not seen much of Chris - he's either been working or staying at friends.

Work at Fulton Hogan remains busy - I'm enjoying it - just need to start making some changes and seeing some real improvements.

I have been out for a couple of bike rides with some of the FH boys. Last week we ventured out to Purau Bay around the Lyttleton Harbour inlet. Around 85km of lumpy terrain. Was probably the hardest cycling I've ever done. Made the Ashbourne Duathlon route seem quite tame in comparison. This weekend we ventured onto the flats around Oxford - a mere 110km! 4 hours in the saddle is about as long as I've ever had to endure! There's talk of taking part in the Source to Sea event in November - a 160km ride down the Buller Gorge - should be fun!

Had a game of golf last weekend with Rob Sherman - a close encounter - all square after 18 holes - a great morning/afternoon in early spring weather - very nice indeed. We went out for a few (!!) beers last Friday in honour of his 50th birthday - Saturday was a bit of a blur!

Also had a trip down to Dunedin for a couple of days with Simply Lean last week. I'm becoming a right 'national turbo-prop setter'!

Still no new pictures to post - must be a sign that things are becoming 'normal'? Mind you, Maria has taken the camera to the UK with her. Maybe there will be some of her piccies to post.

Just heard that U2 are playing in Auckland in November - wahoo! Need to get ourselves sorted for that one.

Pinch and a Punch...

1st of August already - whatever happened to July?!

I started work at Fulton Hogan on 30th June as mentioned in the last posting. It's been good so far. Interesting business. Good people. Lots to do. I hope to be there for some time!

I'm based out at Hornby, on the West side of Christchurch and have been cycling the 10km or so most days - so it's helping with the exercise regime! I've also hooked up with a couple of fellow workers who are keen to do an occassional lunchtime run - so it's all getting rather familiar!

We finally decided upon a trip to the West Coast - Greymouth and Punakaiki to be exact - on board the Tranz Alpine Express as our alternative to our trip to Oz! It wasn't quite Sydney - that's an under-statement - but the train journey was quite spectacular.

Maria had been over there with work the week previous so provided the guided tour of all the hot spots! Actually, it was bitterly cold and grey on the second day so we were quite glad to get back on the train and head back to Christchurch!

Maria and I have had a few active outings around town. We ran the Harry Ell track early in July - only to find ourselves totally over-dressed for the occassion as the winter sunshine sent the temperatures soaring! We also had a cycle around Bottle Lake Forest - on our new trail bikes - with the obligatory stop for coffee in New Brighton at the Salt on the Sea cafe. The four of us were also hosted by Matt and Lou for a great Sunday Roast dinner early July - it was nice to get out as a family for once!

We also headed up the Rapaki Track on bikes - last weekend - though Maria spent a far amount of it pushing rather than cycling. I can understand why - it was probably one of the hardest things I've done - a combination of the steepness of the track, the weight of the bikes (and me!) plus a dogged determination to cycle all the way up! Probably closest to max-heart-rate that I've been in some time.

Sarah is continuing with her dance and acrobatic classes on Saturday mornings. She's not cycled for a while - it was school winter holidays and then she had a week off ill! Chris was also knocked back for a week with illness - bronchitis and sore throat - so his pay has been a bit light recently! He's realising that he can't really afford to run his car so I think that it's going to be appearing on Trade Me quite soon - now it's had it's latest crash damage repaired!

One Year On

It's Tuesday 29th June 2010. We arrived here in Christchurch on Tuesday 30th June 2009. So kind of an anniversary, or maybe that's tomorrow? And what a year of adventure!

Chris has managed to obtain and hold down a job at McDonalds for most of the year. He doesn't have much to show for his efforts, mind you, with the exception of an old Subaru that is currently sitting in Hammonds Panelbeaters waiting to have a new rear drivers side door fitted after yet another demonstration of Newton's 3rd Law. His alternative transport at the moment is an old BMX bike - you can no doubt imagine how he looks on that - all 6ft 4in of him! He's been getting a bit wet going to and from work this last week or so! I think he's keen to get up to the snow fields quite soon for some snowbaording - there's lots of snow on those mountains - but I'm not sure that he has the means with which to fund that particular hobby.
He has talked about making some enquiries at the Christchurch Polytechnic again - to resume some sort of study next February - but we will see.

Sarah has settled into Christchurch life like a duck takes to water. She has a great group of school friends and actually reckons that the best thing about the year so far has been her new school - Christchurch Girls High School - great praise indeed! She continues to take part in a number of sporting activities, including cycling, basketball, indoor-football and dance/acrobatics. Her main pastime, however, seems to be developing into visiting the Westfield Mall with her pals! She also has a boyfriend - which we are obviously monitoring closely!! It's winter school holidays next week - so 2 weeks off - time to recharge the batteries - which have showed signs of running a bit low with a few days under the weather recently.

Maria continues to plug away at making the places of work in Christchurch a safer place to be. She's still doing a day and a half at Solid Energy (The NZ Coal Board) and recently helped them relocate their HQ into some rather swish premises. She's off to the West Coast - Hokitiki - in a week or so to a Solid Energy Occ Health Nursing meeting which she's looking forward to.

I've had a busy few weeks culminating in a week's consultancy down in Dunedin at Hillside Engineering with Simply Lean. It was an interesting week looking at the Foundry operations and it reminded me back to some of the places that I had experienced during my time at R-R - in particular some of the forging suppliers I visited as an auditor. My big news is that I have been offered the position of Quality Manager with Fulton Hogan here in Christchurch - starting tomorrow! So there's going to be a bit of change around here. I'm hoping to keep up the work with the Football Academy - as that's mostly weekend stuff anyway, plus I've recently piloted the i2i course in a single day - which seemed to work well - so hopefully they will continue to run on selected weekends throughout the year. I'm really looking forward to starting at Fulton Hogan - they have a really wide product/service mix which should keep me on my toes for quite some time!

I guess that one of the main benefits of taking on the Fulton Hogan role will be that it should help us to get some finance for purchasing a house if we spot somewhere that we like. Desmond Street has been a great place for us - particularly during Summer when we were hosting family - but it's probably too large for us in the longer term. It's been particularly noticeable during winter when we've found it difficult to heat the place up! No immediate plans to move out, but we'll be keeping an eye open for suitable places coming on to the market.

We'd been contemplating a trip over to Sydney at the start of July but a combination of no cheap flights left plus Maria's work commitments meant that we have shelved those plans for now. We'll probably look to get something planned for a future school break and book the flights in good time to get the good deal. We are discussing the possibilities of a long weekend down at Mount Cook and Lake Tekapo instead - which will be a lot different to sunny Oz! Though hopefully we might be able to hit one of the local ski-fields whilst we are there.

The FIFA World Cup has been interesting from the point of view of seeing the reaction in NZ of the 'success' of the All Whites. Despite not qualifying to the knock-out stages, they are being heralded as heros and a parade in Wellington has been mentioned. Quite a difference to what has been going on back in the UK, no doubt! We still have not subscribed to Sky, so have been at the mercy of TVNZ 1 & 7's schedules regarding which matches were on live, etc. The time difference also meant that we had to get up at 2am last Monday morning to watch England get thumped by the Germans! Fortunately neither Maria nor I had any work commitments that day so we did at least get a lie-in. England exiting also means that I am no longer likely to have to get up at that time again! I may just need to negotiate a late arrival at work should I want to watch the semi's and final.

That's about it for now. Quite a year. Not sure if it's gone fast or slow?! A lot of water under the bridge, to be sure, and a lot of personal development for all of us. Looking forward to the next chapter and what milestones that will bring.

Waterlogged!

Well, what a wet and cold few weeks! Winter arrived just after my last blog with six days of more-or-less continual rain! Plus it was quite chilly too. But hey, it's great news for the skiiers down here as the local skifields now have a great base covering.

It was great to be working at Business Mentors in the Canterbury Development Corporation's offices - nice and warm compared to a cold home-office! And being part of a team of people was very pleasant again - someone to speak to over tea-break! There also seemed to be even more 'training course/board meeting lunch leftovers' than at R-R - so I didn't go hungry whilst I was there!

The role with Business Mentors has now finished as Jill has returned from her Northern Hemisphere trip. She found it a bit of a shock landing back here in the midst of a cold snap having just spent a few days in Dubai on route back home! I've got to say that the thought of getting somewhere warmer for a few days had been playing on my mind over the last week or so and I'm still mulling over a trip to Oz over the winter school holidays. (The sun is out today and it's suddenly gone quite warm again - bizarre).

I also closed out my lecturing at the University last week. It seemed to go OK, though my last session was not the best attended. I think I suffered from a big clash with a project hand-in deadline!

Maria and I went to The Loons (theatre) in Lyttelton a couple of weeks ago to see The Butler. It was a good evening out - interesting show - described in the notes as 'Cirque du Soleil meets Pinter'. Lots of action, witty and quite risquee in places - it's coming to a theatre in Islington, London next month if you're in the area!

I also ventured out into Christchurch last weekend for a few beers with the Asia Pacific Football Academy crowd at the Twisted Hop in Lichfield Lanes. It was a bank holiday weekend - Queens Birthday! - and on Friday at 5.30 the place was already buzzing! Apparently it's the closest you will get to an English pint of beer in Christchurch - and it was very good - in fact they all were! Despite being advised differently, this was the start of my carbo-loading for the Christchurch Half Marathon on the Sunday. It seemed to work, as I managed to get around in just under 1 hour 28 minutes - marginally slower than my previous PB set at the Great North Run back in 2002! Maria dipped in just under the hour mark for her 10k. It was a great event - over 6ooo competitors across the full, half and 10K events - the weather was a bit of a spoiler - wet and cold - but we enjoyed our efforts.

It was also Sarah's 14th birthday that day. She had invited a crowd of her friends over for a sleepover the night before. They seemed to have a good time - got on with things themselves - watched a few DVDs and ate sweets and crisps all evening!
It's quite strange witnessing a winter birthday for her - usually it's been an outdoor affair back in the UK - bouncy castles and camping out in the back garden.

I'm off to Dunedin in a week or so to do some work with Simply Lean which has been scheduled for some time. I'm looking forward to that. There was also an outside chance of being required on a contract out in Sydney at the start of July - though that seems to have gone quiet. I've also been discussing the opportunity of doing some Quality/Business Improvement work with Fulton Hogan in and around Canmterbury. Again, this looks as though it would be interesting stuff to be doing - they're a growing company with a presence in OZ as well as here in NZ. Hopefully that one could turn into something quite substantial.

And with just over 24 hours before the start of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, I'm starting to map out my TV time for the next 4 weeks around all of these work commitments! We still haven't installed SKY, so I'm limited to whatever is on TVNZ 1 or 7 - unless I want to be in a local pub between 2am and 8am each night! England vs USA is live on Sunday morning - so I guess my world cup will start then!

"...and on the palm of her hand is a blister..."

Another month whizzes by between blogs - I need to ease back on this work stuff so that I can concentrate more on keeping everyone up to date!

Steve and Viv Frodsham invited us around for a Sunday roast back in April - and WOW, was it delicious. Steve has missed his vocation as a top chef - the joint of pork he cooked was delicious and his veg selection was pretty awesome too. I tried my best to do justice with a bread and butter pudding for afters - seemed to go down well with all. That was back on the 25th April. I have been keeping a score of alcohol-free days vs had-a-drink days; it was 52:63 at that point - I'll keep you informed as the year continues. I guess the current ratio is symptomatic of the Kiwi-culture of any gathering is an excuse for a bevvie!

Maria and I also went out the following weekend for a few more bevvies...to the birthday party of someone I've met since arriving here - Christine Prince - she's an ex-work pal of Darren Rudkin - a fellow Pembrokian and 1986 Footballing Blue - it's a small world! We've caught up a few times - including at the end of the Christchurch City2Surf 12km race, where she was hosting her fellow Canterbury Tourism employees to a post event BBQ lunch - and glass of champagne, of course.

Talking of races, I've actually entered the Christchurch half-marathon in 2 weeks. Maria is entered for the 10km distance event on the same day - as is Christine. My preparations had been going well until I ran the Tai Tapu 15km race a couple of weekends ago, only to put myself out of action with a humungous blister - not on the palm of my hand - but on the ball of my right foot! I couldn't walk properly for 3 days and didn't run for 9 days after the event!! By the way, I managed to clock 63mins 9 secs for the 15km - the last 5km in blister-agony!

Maria and I had an enjoyable Parents' Evening at Sarah's school - not least because of the fact that the appointments were booked by ourselves on-line rather than having to deal with a hap-hazard mix of appointments and the ensuing scrums. It was all very civilised - plus Sarah's reports were all very positive!

Sarah herself continues to amaze us with the things she is throwing herself in and out of school. She has recommenced piano lessons after school - much to our pleasure - plus she has chosen basketball and cycling as her school sports options this term. The former results in after school matches on a Friday whilst the latter involves a Wednesday post-school 10km cycle out to Tai Tapu Old Rd for a 12km time trial and the 10km cycle back. I would never have guessed she'd have been doing that if you had asked me 12 months ago!

She also goes to a 4 hour, Saturday morning dance and acrobatics class with one of her school pals. She seems to be really enjoying it.
This weekend was also a Charity weekend where school kids were encouraged to 'fast' for either 20 or 40 hours - by which fasting meant survive on rice and barley sugars! Sarah and friends spent 20 hours camping in a back garden at one of the homes - and yes it was very cold last night! Crazy kids!

Anyway, with Sarah out camping and Chris working, Maria and I decided to go out for dinner last night and went to 2 Fat Indians - a curry house in Merivale. The food was great and mine was accompanied by a pint of Boddingtons "Pub Ale"!

May 9th was Mothers' Day here in NZ. Maria and I marked it by going for a lovely walk up in the Port Hills - without the kids! Chris was sleeping - he'd been working nights, and Sarah was too tired from her dance classes the day before!

I held another i2i course in mid-May - which went well - but could have done with more people on paying more money! I've also started my lecturing at the University of Canterbury - which has also gone well to date. I had 6 hours last week and I have another 6 hours the week after next. Not a huge amount, but a start.
I've also been doing a few hours at NZ Business Mentors - holding the fort whilst the usual Canterbury coordinator has headed off to Europe for a holiday. So that's why I've not been blogging - it's been more than a full time job, with lecture preparation, course marketing and administration, etc..

Mind you, I did find the time to go for a round of golf this morning out at Macleans Island Golf Course. It was a BNI fund-raising event - I represented the Emissaries chapter along with Steve Richens, Pat O'Donoghue and Chris Westeneng. I don't think we won any prizes, but we had a pleasant time - and the rain held off. I think we're due plenty of the wet stuff over the next few days. Still, it's been so dry for so long and we have continued to get unseasonably warm days right up until a week or so ago. Autumn is starting to take a hold and it's noticeably cooler at nights - oh for some central heating and double glazing! I think that that's becoming a priority and may cause us to seek out somewhere different to rent in the medium to longer term. Plus, the novelty of the swimming pool has worn off and I'm getting bored of cleaning out the leaves and constantly needing to buy chlorine to fight off the algae! Remind me never to buy anywhere with a pool - more trouble than they're worth!

Tree of Beliefs

Wow, 4 weeks since the last blog...I must be getting busy!

During which Utd have exited the Champions' League, thrown away the Premiership and then got themselves back into the race again (Paul Scholes - he scores goals!) and Europe has become a no-fly zone! Plus my HCI laptop died. :-(

Easter weekend saw Maria, Sarah and I venture up to Hanmer Springs in Brendan's campervan for an overnight adventure. We spent the afternoon in the hot springs - which was great.

We found a site to pitch for the night in a nearby Forest Camp and experienced life inside the tin home for the first time. Cosy to say the least - Maria and I snuggled on the fold-down bed and Sarah tucked into the over-head space above us! It was a bit on the cool side too at 3am. But once the sun came up and we had the first cup of tea of the day brewed, we were soon warm again. In fact it was another gloriously sunny warm day.

We decided to venture along the "Waterfall Track" to seek out Dog Stream Waterfall. It was a reasonable climb and Sarah needed some focused motivation (!) at times - but we did make it to the destination eventually.

We returned to Christchurch and the rest of the Easter break was pretty uneventful - albeit very warm.

Sarah was on a 2 week school holiday and the middle weekend saw us host 5 of her new pals for a sleep-over - an oxymoron if ever there was one! They were pretty self-sufficient so at least Maria and I got some sleep that night!

The following evening we headed out to Lincoln "Township" to a small soiree hosted by one of Maria's Solid Energy colleagues - Tony McInally. A fellow Manc, he invited us around to meet some of his "Pommy Pals" - a nice bunch and a pleasant time had by all (apart from Sarah who was tired from the previous day's lack of sleep!).

Maria and I have continued to try and keep up the exercising and we did manage to have a pleasant morning walking/running up the Rapaki Track. It was another beautiful day, with great views from the top of the Port Hills over towards Bank's Peninsula once we had reached the top. The legs took a bit of a pounding on the run back down!

I've had a busy week this week - running a 2 day i2i course on Monday and Tuesday (only a few people in attendance but it went well nonetheless) and a Day 3 event on Friday. I have also had some "Leadership Training" this week for the role that I am picking up in my BNI group starting next month. It was also the first lecture of term at the Asia Pacific Football Academy this weekend - "Tree of Beliefs" - teaching them about positive attitude with stories of people like Steve Cunningham and Cliff Young - they seemed to like them!

The weather has remained un-seasonally warm and very dry - there's a serious drought up in the north of the north island. The first rain of any note finally arrived yesterday - just as I went off to compete in a cross-country relay with the Port Hill Runners....kinda reminded me of the UK! I've been trying to up my running a bit more recently as I have targetted the Christchurch half-marathon on June 6th and set myself a goal of doing it in around 1 hour 35 mins. So need to get some miles in between now and then.