Have decided to bring out a Christchurch Earthquake Memorial T-Shirt which you can see a picture of here.

10% of any profits made will to go The Christchurch Mayoral Relief Fund.

Please tell your friends!

At 04:35 am on Saturday 4th September a magnitude 7.4 Earthquake was released 30km West of Christchurch at a depth of 30km.

Doesn’t sound too bad – does it? Or at least, it doesn’t really convey what it’s actually like to wake up to a big earthquake.

Waking up to a big earthquake is terrifying , paralysing and altogether quite unpleasant. The whole house was vibrating – which is a very very odd sound and motion. I was just lying in bed wondering what on earth to do. Should I get under the bed? Should I go outside? Should I just wait and hope for the best? Honestly, I was pretty much paralysed.

The whole event took around about 40 seconds. 40 seconds is a very very long time when bricks are raining down and the whole house is shaking. It’s definitely by far and away the scariest moment of my life. By a long way.

After the initial shaking had stopped we quickly pulled on some warm clothes (it was a very cold night) dug out a decent torch (no elect) and headed outside ….

… This was pretty much the first view we had. Poor van, but very happy it wasn’t anyone’s head which caught these bricks. That would *definitely* have stung for quite a while.

One of the lovely things about living in the big old house that I live in, is that it’s very much a community of people who look after each other. First thing was to go round the other flats and to make sure that everyone was OK. (everyone was OK!). No one really wanted to be on their own, so while Mark (a mobile phone network technician) headed into work, the rest of us moved into our lounge to just huddle together. That was really lovely – and a bit warmer too.One of the great things about living in our old draughty house is that we’re really prepared for cold. Down jackets & hats came on. Thermal underwear was pulled on. Duvets were wrapped around – and really, it wasn’t too bad.

I was quite sad that Steve wasn’t here. I had no one who wanted to share my Ard Beg (whiskey) with me at 04:50 ;) Don’t worry Steve, I had one for you too! Another really good thing to have is a radio. It just puts you back in touch with the outside world. I’m definitely going to get a radio and some spare batteries. My little MP3 player doubles as a radio – so I got the spare speakers and tuned in to the National Programme. It was funny scanning through the stations. Some were just blithely playing normal music, some ads, and then earthquake news. Note, all this time (and still as I write this) aftershocks are going on. We’ve had about 50 since the main quake went off.

Anyway, I headed out at about 6am to try and get some water (water was off – burst pipes all over the place). It was *dark*. Properly dark. No street lights, no house lights. And it was cold. Very cold. The few places I tried to go to were all closed.. so I headed back to the house empty handed. All the traffic lights were out too, so it was nice to get back to the relative safety of home.

Dawn came, and with it a bit of warmth. Everything seems a lot better in strong sunshine. We started investigating the house for damage.

Main thing – the whiskey cabinet was intact.

So, we live next to the river, and these cracks appeared in the lawn. One of the problems has been liquefaction, which is where the ground turns to something a lot less solid. I’m guessing that’s what has happened here.

This pile of bricks is just by our back door (which doesn’t open any more). Bloody lucky we didn’t pile out that way.

Now, before anyone gets worried. The house is structurally safe (so we are told). Wooden houses (and tin roofs) behave really well in Earthquake situations. The cracks above are just cracks in the plaster. It’s not structural, and it won’t take too long to be repaired.

The chimneys were dangerous, but early this morning (5th!) the builder was over (he had inspected yesterday)… and he has been clearing the chimneys away.

Olli, our performing artist housemate, couldn’t resist playing with the sledgehammer! Heh.

Here are a couple of video’s of the house, and the cleanup afterwards.

Really though, we have been so lucky. We have power, we have water, we have the internet. We’re all safe and unharmed. When you contrast that with the poor poor people in Pakistan where there are what, 30 million displaced in a dire situation.. no, I think we’ve been very very lucky.

This weekend it was off to Mt Olympus for a weekend in the hills. Mt Olympus (aptly called the “Playground of the Gods”) is the only club field in Canterbury that I’d not visisted yet. I headed up with Paddy and Colm (two mad Irish) friends of Shelly’s.

Above you can see the olde-style chains for the big four wheel drive, and the slightly more manageable “easy fit” chains.

Then it was on up to the lodge for the evening. Olympus has a wonderful lodge – with an entire dress up box! It’s pretty much mandatory to dress for dinner ;)

And a quick video of the lodge itself.

The conditions themselves weren’t really good enough for me to enjoy properly. I’m not the most comfortable on thick ice! Still, I’m sure I’ll be up again (I’m cheating horribly here, as I’m writing this on 24th Sept and I’m heading up again tonight ;)

Had an absolutely amazing long weekend with my cousin Thomas. He cashed in a bazillion air miles and flew 1st class from London to NZ. Ridiculous stories of caviar, champagne, masseuses (in the 1st class lounge) etc. etc. More importantly, he arrived with a bottle of Ard Beg (Whiskey) and a scrabble trophy itching to be back with its rightful owner.

Thomas arrived on the Thursday – and the next morning we were off South to Queenstown. Stopped off at the frighteningly delicious Macs Fish & Chip shop in Ashburton. It really is the best F&C I’ve had in NZ – and that’s saying something. I, unfortunately, didn’t take as many pictures as I should have, but that night we met up with John (a Kiwi friend of Thomas’ working in Geneva), and his friend Simon (a nice Australian, and that too is saying something ;) hehe, ehem. John was having a very low-key wedding, and he kindly invited me to join in the festivities. So, the Friday night was really John’s stag. Beers were drunk, meat was eaten, and laughs (a plenty) were had. It was probably the most civilised stag night ever (certainly there was no trip to Accident & Emergency for me this time)

Friday we drove from Queenstown to Wanaka (just an hours drive) and I introduced Thomas to Cinema Paradiso which is Wanaka’s boutique cinema. We watched Toy Story 3.. and I must say – I *loved* it. Really really excellent film.

Then we had John’s wedding. It was a brilliant evening. Just immediate family and friends wrapped up in the joyous occasion and with ample quantities of excellent wine and food.

Saturday it was off to Treble Cone at first light. It was quite a misty day and I was irritated to find that Thomas was a far far better skier than I was border. All those years in Geneva finally paying off.

Still, I had my revenge. And it was sweet sweet revenge. I reclaimed the Scrabble trophy from Thomas’ hands.

Much like Sauron’s ring, the cup longed to be with its rightful owner. Long may it last.

Sunday it was back to Treble Cone again, this time with John&Shelley and Simon. It was a much better day conditions wise. I did find that TC is not remotely beginner friendly. Skiers and boarders whizz by on all sides – basically expecting that you’re going to be OK. I really don’t like drivers tailgating – and it’s just as bad (or worse) on a ski field. I even shouted at one person behind me. They were told.

Thomas and I, and John and Thomas.

And a picture of Thomas zipping down the slope.

All too soon it was time to head back to ChCh. This time, as we’d had a huge dump of snow in the meantime, the landscape was white as far as you could see. Really beautiful.

A fantastic trip all round really. Just a shame that it had to end. Still, can look forward to defending my title at Christmas ;)

I’m a pretty light sleeper. This is my current 5am alarm.