Beach Photos

Life in Christchurch continues to be shaky. We've had several substantial tremors in the last week, but they are such a part of life in Christchurch now that they hardly warrant mention. I'm certainly not being blase about the tremors - the faint booming sound followed by a shaking house and swaying lights can make us a bit tense. Still, life goes on.

This week they announced which areas of the city are truly munted and will not be repaired. The government has offered to buy all the homes in these red-zoned areas, as services (electricity, water, and sewer) will not be returned to these homes. Mostly these are areas along the Avon River and the estuary. The high silt content of these areas ensures that they will not remain stable in the event of future earthquakes. Many people are upset, to be sure, but I get the sense that many people who live in those most-damaged areas are relieved to have a buy-out package waiting.

In the last month or so, we've been trying to get to some of the beaches in the Canterbury region that we had not yet visited. A couple of weekends ago we went to Pines Beach, which is just north of the city. I've included some pictures of our trip to the beach. The one picture of the ocean shows the view north (showing the Kaikoura Peninsula in the distance), while the photo of the beach is looking south to the city and Banks Peninsula. The other two pictures are of A and R, of course!

E haere ra!

Cool Video!

I came across this, and thought it VERY interesting. This link is for a video clip showing the effects of the Feb. 22 earthquake on the Gift Shop in the Christchurch Art Gallery. Interesting to see what looks like initial high-frequency shaking, then the later, low-frequency waves (a shift from shaking to intense rocking). Take a look.

http://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/multimedia/film/documentation/shop-earthquake-footage/

Later,

Trent.

updated tremors

hmm, apparently they changed the magnitude of Monday's shakes to 5.7 and 6.3.

More Tremors!

The last 24 Hours have been very exciting here in Christchurch. Yesterday afternoon I was at home with Aya and Rowan, and the city was rocked by yet another substantial aftershock. It was a 5.5, and the epicenter was again virtually inside the city, just a few hundred meters off the beach at Sumner. Aya, now an earthquake veteran, was under the table hugging a table leg like a shot! They have earthquake drills at Aya's daycare, and she responds instantly now to large tremors. Rowan and I just stood there, though. We're not as well-prepared as Aya, clearly! Shelley was at work at the time, and she was under her desk pretty quickly (another earthquake-ready Cantabrian). They started to evacuate the University (as they do after major tremors), so Shelley came home. We read the news on the internet, and were relieved to see that there had been little damage - a church collapsed, trapping a few people for a short while, but no major injuries.

She had only been at home for an hour or so when a second, larger tremor hit the city. This tremor was noticeably stronger - I was upstairs looking out the window (again, I just sat there), and was fascinated to watch all the trees in the neighborhood sway violently. This time it was a 6.0, which is certainly large enough to do some damage. Several buildings (and a small bridge) collapsed downtown, but they were buildings that had been previously been red-stickered and were unoccupied. Again we watched the news, and were again relieved to hear that no one had been seriously injured. Whew! The epicenter for this one had been in Lyttleton, and was very shallow, hence the 'jerkiness' of the tremor. (Yes, you really do get a feel for the 'texture' of earthquakes after you've been through thousands of tremors.)

For the first time, there was real damage in our house. Our hotwater tank ruptured, and water was running down through the house. The leak wasn't too big, and we were able to contain the mess with buckets and towels while we figured out how to turn the hot water off.

So today, we're all at home. The university is closed for a day or two (they have to inspect the buildings), so I popped out to the (excellent!) french bakery just down the street to get pastries for everyone for breakfast. Chocolate croissant, pain au chocolat, and custard brioche! Delicious!

We're still a bit sick (our flu has become lodged in our sinuses and won't leave), and my ankle is still a little injured (I can walk, but not easily), but other than that we're doing OK here in ChCh. Shelley says 'earthquake days' are like 'snow days' in Canada; there's nothing you can do about, so just enjoy it while it lasts. She's on the couch, reading a novel as I write this... :)

Still no date on a move back to Canada, though we should know in a week or two when we're leaving.

I've added a link so you can watch the earthquakes unfold in Christchurch. You can adjust how much 'earthquake-time' you want to watch.

If you can't see the link, the website address is http://www.christchurchquakemap.co.nz/

Cheers!

Trent.

PS> Just had another tremor... not so huge, but caught me by surprise!

June 7, 2011

The last week has been rough. Last Saturday I entered a bouldering competition at the Roxx (the biggest climbing gym here in Christchurch); I was having a lot of fun, and actually doing pretty well. About half of the problems / routes were fairly high, though, probably as high as 6m / 20 feet. As the competition was drawing to a close, I fell from the last move of one of these tall problems, and my left foot went between the mats as I hit the floor, and I smashed heel-first onto the hard floor beneath. Instantly, my ankle exploded with pain, and I knew that things had gone south (so to speak). Luckily, my friend Mark (who is doing his PhD here, but lived in Vancouver when we did, and I had climbed with him at the Edge in North Vancouver - small world!) drove me home. After a week of ice, bandages, and elevating my ankle, its starting to feel better, although I am still hobbling around.

And now we're all sick with the flu. Ugh. I am looking forward to being intact again... Rowan and Aya are almost better now, so that's nice. Aya still has a bit of a plugged ear canal (or something) that causes her a lot of discomfort when she lies down to sleep. Hopefully that clears up soon!

I'm really hoping that my ankle gets better soon - I'd love to get up to Castle Hill and do some more bouldering before we leave NZ, but those plans are a bit up in the air now.

We're planning on moving back to Canada sometime in the next month or so. Exact dates are still up in the air, unfortunately. We're hoping to get in on as much of the Canadian Summer as possible! So much nicer than a Canadian winter!

More soon!

Trent.

Sick and Sore!

Well, it has finally settled in to 'winter' here. The trees that are going to lose their leaves have done so, and we have had several hard frosts (I know, right? Frosts? Poor Shelley...). The dark nights, cold weather, ad winter store displays have poor Aya convinced that Christmas must be just around the corner....

We are all sick - Rowan had it first, then Aya, then Trent and I fell prey to their disease. They had fevers and coughs, but Trent and I seem to have gotten more of a sinus - headache- sneezing version. And poor Trent also sprained his ankle in a bouldering competition last weekend. It is still swollen and sore, and has turned very pretty colours!

For those who haven't seen it yet, here is a link to aa slide show of what the Feb earthquake did to our beloved downtown:

https://picasaweb.google.com/RossBeckerNZ/2011April27IntoTheChristchurchRedZone#slideshow/5602378297983180610

Thank goodness we were in Ilam! It is apparently among the least damaged neighbourhoods. Noone was hurt at the University either, although several buildings are "munted" as they say.

And, finally, long live the Queen!

love shelley