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18 August 2013

Well, we’re home again.

The boys had a birthday party to go to, and our plane left at 12.15pm, so we all went our separate ways at the same time; Mary kindly giving us a lift to the airport. We had a great time with them (did I say that Marcus is a good cook), and they were very generous in letting us stay with them. The boys were great and it was wonderful to finally meet with them at an age where we could all interact meaningfully.

And would you believe that today was the first cold day we’ve experienced in Christchurch? In fact it’s colder here in Thames at the moment.

We had lunch at Wishbone. I had a fruit salad, and, because I thought it would taste nicer as a lunch rather than a breakfast, a Passion Yoyo (Melting Moment like the one we had for breakfast last Sunday) and a lemon juice. Afterwards we still had a little time to kill so we looked in the Antarctic Centre shop and I bought a South Pole patch. It’s the first souvenir I’ve bought all trip. Everything had the Cathedral on it, and the Cathedral doesn’t look like that anymore.

The plane flight was mainly smooth and we think the pilot may have been the daughter of another Rangitoto bach holder. We know she works for Air New Zealand, and I think I heard the name Christine mentioned as being the pilot. Of course it could have been another.

 

Farewell Spit. "Goodbye, South Island"

"Hello, North Island"... And it turned out to be the southern bit of the western lump of the island which is Taranaki

It's a mythical mountain!

If this blog had been my New Plymouth one we would have had fantastic views of Mount Egmont/Taranaki from the city.

New Plymouth to the right

We started decending into Auckland about five minutes after I took those shots. I wish I could have photographed that.

We found our bags on the conveyor belt okay. Why is it that everyone crams around the beginning on the conveyor belt, ready to barge their way through and pounce on their bag when it emerges, when it would be probably just as quick and definitely easier to reach your bag by heading to the end of the queue?

Human beings are odd creatures.

Then we caught the Air Bus Express (or whatever they call it) to town. It was $16 each, which means that we saved a $1.00 by getting the taxi to the airport a week ago.

Which reminds me. On the way to the Christchurch Airport, Mary asked us what the highlight was. Aside from catching up with them, we couldn’t think of anything. It only took a week and we’d forgotten about the train trip. There may not have been snow, but it was definitely a highlight.

As we drove down Dominion Road I was struck by how odd it looked to see shops of a certain vintage without fencing barricading them off, and open for business… And, D.C. added, selling food. After only one week, all that destruction and resurrection has become the norm.

We had hoped that the bus would drop us off at the Skytower, because we often see it there while we’re waiting for the Thames bus. But instead we had to get out in Queen Street and drag our bags up the hill...

Hills? What are those? Everything’s flat in Christchurch (which was half their problem.)

I’ve just been over to Wikipedia to check my facts and discovered that icebergs were calved from the Tasman Glacier because of the earthquake.

And as another aside, when we got home this evening, I went next door to get D.C.’s keys (remember the Hillary saga?) and Raewyn told me that she’d felt the Wellington earthquake from the other day. She’d heard it and came inside to see the lights swaying.

And we missed it.

We had dinner at Denny’s at 3.00pm. The food’s okay, but we mainly go there because it’s handy to the bus terminal. I did manage to cash in some of my points and got it cheaper than it would have normally been (by $8.80!). The man who accepted payment asked if I also had a Gold Card like D.C.’s . “Uh, no. I’m not as old as her and I’m not a veteran.”

The bus left just after 5.00pm (We like to get there really early so we can claim the front seat.) and it was a good trip back to Thames. And then we had to walk a mile home. We’ve only been gone a week and we’re expecting to see wholesales changes to the town.

Crazy.

We stopped off at Park and Spend... Sorry, the Pak ‘n Save supermarket on the way to get some bread and yoghurt for breakfast. I also got some propolis lozenges to battle my cold, which kicked in today. How come they have plenty of stuff for sore throats, but nothing for drippy noses?

Oh, well. I’ll keep sniffing.

So that’s our holiday. It’s all over. :-(

Thoughts on Christchurch

It’s constantly noisy, which is understandable when you consider all the building going on. There’s either a never ending drone, or banging as piles are driven into the ground for foundations, and clanging as things hit other things. It must be something like what Thames used to be like during the gold rush days. Only you’d get two days of peace and quiet instead of just Sundays.

And there’s not a lot of traffic or people in the central city. We were struck by the contrast when we got to Auckland this afternoon.

Bealey Ave, where we stayed in the Abbey Motel (#2), is full of accommodation places and medical establishments, but not much on the way of eating places. Our theory is that as you cross these very busy roads (four lanes going each way) and you get bowled by the traffic, you can get immediate medical help.

I think the pedestrian crossing lights are still on the same phasing that they were before the quakes, or at least before the road works. So that some change from green to red before you’re halfway across, while others are still green when you’re almost at the next set of lights.

Anything else to say?

The people of Christchurch are still (at least those we spoke to – which I guess were the ones with jobs and some certainty) very positive, and helpful, and willing to share their experiences. Did I tell you about the museum worker who told us about her daughter and grandchildren? They’d decided to stop off at the local supermarket and the museum lady’s daughter did what she never does, put her daughter (Sophie!) into the trolley, because Sophie was tired. When the quake hit they were pelted by falling fruit (which hurt), but if Sophie hadn’t been in the trolley, she probably would have been running ahead and anything could have happened.

So many “what if” and “only if” stories. Like the bus driver who never had sick leave and been too ill to work February 22^nd. If she’d been driving she would have been in control of the bus that was flattened by masonry. I think only one person got out of that bus, and it wasn’t the driver.

That’s a mixed blessing story.

We can only hope that the people of Christchurch can get through this, survive, and grow.


And thinking about it there are two things that I must do:

1) Cut my fingernails. They are WAY too long for typing. I won't be able to do any work tomorrow. (Work. What a lovely thought.)

2) Hope that my ear is fully unblocked by tomorrow. The flight gummed it up and I'll need it operational for work. It's my telephone ear!