Earthquakes and Nor'westers

When you consider the fact that New Zealand is a part of the Pacific Ring of Fire the events of the last week are maybe not that unexpected. Waking up however to the whole house shaking violently at 4:30 on Saturday morning was not in the weekend plan. Although Amy insisted at first that it was just a train, the fact that we live a good 200+m from the track and any trains slow to a crawl as they trundle through town added weight to my insistence that we were in the middle of a natural disaster. It may have been a good idea to grab our emergency kit (which the government recommend every home assemble) and cower under the table or in a doorway but after 2 minutes or so the vibrations stopped, nothing had fallen over or broken and with no emergency kit to grab it seemed a bit pointless getting out of bed. Waking up in the morning and hearing the news that the quake measured a hefty 7.1 on the Richter scale it was surprising there was not more damage. This was the same magnitude as the recent event that decimated Haiti. Driving around there was little to see, a few fallen chimneys nothing more but when I tried to continue with my weekend plans of heading to Lake Colleridge while Amy went kayaking I found the Rakaia gorge bridge closed for inspection.

Instead I headed up the south running road to the head of the river. It really is a very scenic drive that takes you right to the start of the Southern Alps. The mountains were all snow-capped, the weather was superb and after stopping for a brew by the river it was time for some leg stretching and so I headed up the small Double Hill hoping for an even better view. The view was fantastic but it was not obtained before a bit of cliff climbing after the path vanished and a bit of bush bashing meant I was a little reluctant to re-trace my steps. In the afternoon the wind picked up and it was time to head home. A bit of internet searching that evening revealed the extent of the damage that Christchurch had suffered. Buildings collapsed, cars crushed and roads destroyed. It was lucky the earthquake happened at the dead of night, much earlier and people would still have been out on the town and the story would have been very different. For the whole week after there have been plenty of aftershocks and although some have been a reasonable size in their own right they have thankfully been getting progressively less frequent. I was nearly going to write that it has been 6 days since the last shock but then I was woken to one last night (it now being 12 days since the big one). Still, the now familiar rumble that preceded an aftershock by 10 seconds or so appears to have been relegated to memory.

Having come through that natural event unscathed, and eager as always not to waste a weekend, on Sunday of that weekend we hit the hills. The fact that the ski slope was closed due to high winds should have given us a warning, but as soon as we started climbing the ridge that takes the round about route to Woolshed Creek (a hut we had preciously stayed in when we tramped the Mt Somers Circuit) it became progressively harder to walk in a straight line! Thankfully the ridge was not of the knife edge variety and we made out lunchtime destination, taking shelter from the howling nor'wester. The walk was great and in fact the sun came out half way round the loop making the 4 hour leg stretch even more enjoyable. Another week of work then passed painlessly enough before an impromptu Friday night outing resulted in sore heads all round come Saturday morning. It was perhaps a good thing then that the wind was back and Mt Hutt closed as we ended up surfacing a little after noon. A short walk up the top of the Rangitata was all we could manage that day but come Sunday it was time once again to strap on the skis and make the most of the near empty slopes. We are hoping to do the same this coming weekend but with people telling us that heading our way is "a storm as big as Oz" we may have to make alternate arrangements!