Well.. a sad day. I’m not going to dwell on how lucky we are in comparison to the many dead.. but just talk about our day today.

Very broken night with earthquakes throughout. In the cold light of day we looked through the house and the decision made to abandon. Very sad about that. It has been a wonderful home. A real community of 7 flats and 11 lovely people. I don’t think I will find the same again. It’s sad.

So everything bar the beds and sofa’s has been moved into the garage. Tomorrow we will try to find storage and put things in there for a few months while we sort out a place to live.

Lots of people will, I think, leave the city permanently this time. Can’t say I’d blame them either.

It’s a nasty stressful time.. but there is so much to be thankful for and many friends have been in touch with offers of help storage and accommodation.

On the plus plus side.. international airport is open and tassie beckons. Have never wanted a holiday so much.

Thanks for all the thoughts.. we are safe and warm.. and it could have been so much worse.

Maaike and I are ok. House is probably toast. 65 heading towards 200 dead.

My housemates and us are all fine with enough food and water.

Power has just come on.. but really don’t think we will be staying here.

Off to tasmania on sat if flights allow. Will be good to escape!

Love to all.. say a prayer if you have a higher powers’ ear!

One thing I forgot to mention a while ago, was that Myra and Graham organised a trip to see the Rocky Horror Show. The Rocky Horror show was created by a kiwi – Richard O Brian, and it was he who was directing. Having never seen the film or been to the theatre I didn’t really have a massively formed idea of what I was in for. But I did know I had to dress up. Here’s a picture of me dressed up.

Just where I live is a city garden & stately home (Mona Vale). They have Shakespeare plays every year and this year it was the Taming of the Shrew. It was excellent.

Last night we had Graham and Myra over for dinner. Maaike made a delicious pie from a recipe that her brother Sjoerd made for us. I tried a new (simple but yum) recipe for a lime cheesecakeish desert.

Marscarpone and Lime Tart

200g Ginger Bisc – crushed
50g butter – melted
500g Marscapone Cheese
40g Icing Sugar – sifted
Finely grated zest and juice of 2 – 3 limes

Mix biscuits and butter and push into the base of a 7 inch tin.

Beat marscapone, icing sugar, zest and juice of limes together. Spread
on based and chill for 30 mins.

Decorate as wish – chocolate, grapes etc.

It was also a chance to use the lovely forks I got many years ago for the bargain price of $15 from the charity shop. While I do get abuse for my reckless buying of stuff, I still reckon that every house needs specialised desert spoons and forks. As you can see from this photo, Maaike, Myra & Graham definitely feel the same.

In comparison for size, you can see the awesome chopping board that I bought a while ago (which I still receive abuse for buying.. however, I maintain that every good kitchen needs a good chopping board, and truly, this is the king of chopping boards).

It was also pointed out that my blog has been getting less attention of late. Mainly this is because starting a new job, however groovy, is quite a lot of work. Also, it would be fair to say that I have been quite… relaxed… for quite a while.. so the shock to the system is somewhat more than usual. I am enjoying it a lot though. Learning heaps, really supportive environment.

Still, off to Tasmania for 2 weeks on Saturday for Domhnall and Gills’ wedding – and I just can’t wait. Maaike and I will get some tramping and touring in beforehand.. will be great to have a good stretch of the legs. Lots of lovely pictures to follow.

Firstly – a picture of the spare bedroom.

It’s safe again ;)

Maaike had a friend Nelie staying for the last few days and so off we headed with a third Dutch (Ivor) to Mt. Somers for the weekend. It’s ridiculous how easily they all switch between languages. Quite jealous.

Oh – actually this is cool. All of the topographic information was given away free by LINZ, which in turn creates lots of new exciting opportunities for people. Some clever person made a google map overlay of the entire series. So I can now link straight to the map … check this out.

Anyway, had a good day (not toooo hot) up and over Mt. Somers and down to Woolshed Creek hut.

Where we were greeted by the most officious and, frankly, aggressive and obnoxious (as it turned out) DOC volunteer. I’ll not go through it all here – but will be writing a letter to DOC about it. Synopsis – Ivors tent blew down in the strong Nor’Wester and (after having paid a ticket to camp) they decided to sleep on the floor of the hut. Lady comes back at 08:30 and complains that “two of our party sneaked in and they had to pay for the hut”. We said things like “emergency” and “only slept on the floor” and she said “don’t care, even in an emergency you’re not allowed to sleep in a hut”.

It was at that point that we basically told her where to go. Utter utter rubbish. The most unfriendly, officious, mean spirited, nasty and aggressive person I’ve ever met in the outdoors.

*breathe*

Anyway, other than that it was a lovely trip. Came back via pinnacles hut (where there’s some good climbing) and back to Christchurch. It was also one of the hottest days on record as NZ was experiencing some of the weather left over from cyclone Yasi which smacked into OZ.

Oh yes, and swimming was done. I am so *not* a cold weather person. But I did get in.

Anyway, thanks to Ivor, Nelie (and Maaike!) for a lovely weekend. No thanks to the woolshed DOC lady. Letter will be on its way shortly.

My cousin William (from Palmerston North) was down with his partner Buzz and their little’uns – Blake and Anna. As expected things were relatively haphazard but absolutely lovely to have them down.

Blake certainly reminds me of myself a bit – or at least what I was like as a kid. Ridiculously competitive. While I realise the stock response here will be “you still are ridiculously competitive”, I think I’ve tempered my temper somewhat. Blake was a keen player of “tag”.. but also has a very inventive imagination. Every time I “tagged” him, there was some reason why it wasn’t allowed. So I caught him unawares and he started chasing. After half an hour I was knackered, and forced to give up. Good legs. Good commitment. He’ll go far.

There has been an exhibition of Ron Muecks in the art gallery. I’d never heard of him before, but he’s an Australian, and creates lifelike representations of mostly nude humans in various scales. They’re really very lifelike and usually in some pose which draws the viewer into the art. Quite clever. Apologies if looking at these pictures gets you in trouble at work ;)

There was also a waiata going on outside (Maori song) which was kinda part of the buskers festival which happens this time every year.

Good times.