March 27, 2011

Kia Ora!

It has been an eventful month here in Christchurch. As you are undoubtedly aware, Christchurch was struck by another substantial earthquake on February 22, most likely an aftershock of the September 4 earthquake. This tremor (magnitude = 6.3), however, was directly under the suburb of Lyttleton (only several kilometers from Christchurch’s downtown), and was relatively shallow (only 6 kilometers below the surface). As such, the devastation in the city was very widespread, especially in the south and east areas of the city. Much of the downtown was destroyed, and two large buildings collapsed outright. The death toll now stands at 182 people for the city, mostly people who died in collapsed buildings, by masonry falling off buildings, or when they were in buses or cars crushed by debris. It has been a serious blow to the city of Christchurch, in terms of the psychological state of its inhabitants, its economy, and its infrastructure. Kiwis are resilient, though, and I have no doubt that Christchurch will rise again as one of the most beautiful and interesting cities in the southern hemisphere.

Some interesting details of the February 22 earthquake. It was generated by an upthrust slip of the fault that (they now know) runs from the Avon-Heathcote estuary (in the eastern suburbs) southward to the Port Hills. The two sides of the fault slipped by 1.5 m, and the Port Hills are now 40 cm higher. There was substantial liquefaction associated with the earthquake, since much of the eastern part of the city was built on silt. In places, the sand and silt that oozed to the surface was as deep as 3 m. Shag Rock, a small sea stack near Sumner and a highly visible Christchurch landmark, collapsed in the earthquake. It is now jokingly referred to as “Shag Pile”.

Sadly, my favorite café in the city (Le Café at the Arts Center) was badly damaged. Hopefully it will recover. And I hope their service gets better when it does.

A very (!) interesting and well-done website that shows the sequence, magnitude, and location of the earthquakes and their aftershocks can be seen at http://www.christchurchquakemap.co.nz/

My brother Wayne and his family (wife Darcia, and two girls Terra and Trinity) had visited us in Christchurch for 10 days, and had left the city the day before the earthquake. When they were here, we jokingly wished that they would be able to experience an aftershock (being from the earthquake-free zone of Alberta, Canada), but they left without really experiencing a noticeable tremor. We were glad that they left when they did, though, because they had been downtown only two days before the big quake, and had visited many of the places where people died days later. They had dodged a big, earthquake-shaped bullet.

We had a really nice visit with them, and visited many of Christchurch’s attractions and landmarks: the Christchurch Cathedral (whose spire later collapsed), the Museum, The Arts Center (later partially collapsed), Willowbank Wildlife Reserve, and the Botanical Gardens.

Shelley’s work is progressing nicely. She is almost completed the latest trials of her experiment examining the potential effects of global climate change on plant-pollinator interactions. She has been working with bumblebees this year, which is nice. They’ve proven to be an excellent study animal, I think, and they always seem so friendly to me…

We went to Castle Hill to go bouldering a couple of weeks ago. Such an amazing place – beautiful scenery, sculptured boulders sprouting like mutant stone mushrooms from the green turf, and blue skies seemingly perpetual overhead. We had a great time, and I managed to climb a couple of V4 mantle problems quickly (it’s good to know that my mantling skills are coming along). Some of the mantles there are pretty amazing-looking, though, and I confess that many of them look completely impossible to me. Aya and I went ‘adventure bouldering’, crawling and climbing through gaps and tunnels in the rocks, and we all climbed up to the top of Spittle Hill, above the boulders and bluffs of Castle Hill.

Our Vancouver friends Merle and Jared visited us for a few days this month as well. They are bicycle touring through New Zealand for several weeks, although Merle’s knees have been giving her problems, so the ‘pedal-powered’ aspect of their vacation is in doubt. Regardless, we had a great time with them, including a series of memorable meals! We wish them luck on their travels throughout New Zealand and Australia!

This past Saturday we drove up north for an hour to spend the day at Motunau Beach. It is now one of our favorite places in New Zealand. An idyllic little village on a grassy knoll overlooking the Pacific Ocean with the small rocky isle (and wildlife refuge) of Motunau Island just offshore. We walked around the headland from the parking lot to the small sandy beach below the village, where we had a great day looking for paua shells (I found three!), swimming, and looking in tide pools. I was showing Aya the basics of body surfing (OK, I was really holding her under the armpits, but she thought it was great fun), and I went for swim even though the day was a little cool. There were building lots for sale here ($240,000 NZ for 5 hectares right on the ocean!), which pretty much had us mentally moving to Motunau Beach. Lots of sea food, a surf break and swimming beach 100 m from the house, vineyards just down the road, and gorgeous scenery – who could ask for more?

I’ll try to update this blog a little more faithfully in the future…

Take care!

Trent.