NZ Earthquake

[Bealman]

Yes the rail trip up the gorge and back out of Dunedin is indeed spectacular. Yep, the shaky isles are shaky but beautiful. Metre gauge too, ya know. All these big diesels hauling stuff on what looks like narrow gauge! Marvellous.

[kaiwhara]

Yes Cathedral Square, along with a good portion of the CBD down to Litchfield, Up to Gloucester, and about a similar distance East and West are still in the Red Zone and out of bounds to the public. Sadly the Anglican Cathedral was severely damaged and is being deconstructed to around 2 meters in height. Sadly this was the only example of a truley English Cathedral in an Urban Centre in New Zealand which has been the subject of hot debate. It had to be done though as the structure truley was not in good shape.

I was down in the South Island on holiday when the Feb 22 6.3 Quake struck, and ironically was actually on the Tranz Alpine that day. Didn't feel the quake itself, but was stranded on the Coast as a result, having to fly back the next day. In terms of continuing our Holiday we were well and truley stonkered as our Car was stuck in the Honda Dealership getting repairs done on St. Asaph St which was inside the Red Zone when we got back. The Aftershocks were violent and being so close and so shallow, you got absolutely no warning of them. Liquifaction was a big problem as well - sand volcanoes were popping up literally everywhere. As we were in a Railways Staff Welfare House which are leased Saturday to Saturday we had to get out of there sadly (although it wasn't initially booked after us, it got snapped up by a local family who works for us whos house was wrecked), we ended up leaving our stuff at a mates undamaged house and retreated home back to Auckland for a few days. We then flew back down about a week later once we could get our hands on a Rental Car and continued our Holiday from Queenstown (which is a really stunning place, and surprisingly for a tourist hotspot quite reasonably priced), only to find out when we got down there the next day that our car could be removed from the Red Zone, but we had to get it that day, as it was being shut again. So, 13 hours and 1100km later we had driven from Queenstown to Christchurch and back, dropped the Rental at Christchurch Airport and got our car back (yay!!!).

Not a nice time and can say that, despite having grown up in Wellington and having experienced thousands of Earthquakes down there, that I had never experienced anything like the ones we were getting in Christchurch (at that stage a quake at least 4.0 at least once an hour), and I have no shame in saying I was very stressed and wound up, and got virtually no sleep while we were in Christchurch. I have never felt quite like that before or since.

As a result, I missed out Dunedin and the Taieri Gorge Line, and Te Anau and Milford Sound, but that gives us something to look forward to next year :-)

I don't know what others think, but I think Christchurch, like Napier after their quake in 1937 have a very exciting future - current bickering aside. Napier has been here once before, and as a direct result of their disaster, they have a very unique, celebrated Art Deco Architecture in such scale not seen anywhere in New Zealand! I think Christchurch in 70 years time will be very much the same!

[kaiwhara]

Not quite, we are 1067mm here (3' 6"), just as Queensland Rail and Trans Perth are. 

Yes the rail trip up the gorge and back out of Dunedin is indeed spectacular. Yep, the shaky isles are shaky but beautiful. Metre gauge too, ya know. All these big diesels hauling stuff on what looks like narrow gauge! Marvellous.

[Bealman]

Thanks for that correction. It's over a metre and a half, then. It just looks narrower. I have seen the railways in Qld and WA, and honestly have believed them to be metre gauge! I think it must be an optical illusion due to seeing what is basically full sized stock on the narrower gauge. Thanks again for putting me straight.

Wow, your South Island experiences were harrowing. I love the South Island and I truly feel for the residents of Christchurch. However, if they all share your optimistic outlook for the future, then I'm sure your forecast will be correct! I stood at the top of that cathedral spire at lunchtime almost exactly a year before the destruction. I still get the shivers.

[jonclox]

Yoiks! Ive only just caught up with this thread.
I hope things get sorted as soon as possible and everybody will be ok