Dryland surfing is what the biggest earthquake Christchurch has experienced felt like. I was standing in a carpark at the University of Canterbury. Okeover House beside me through itself from side to side and I could see books flying off shelves through a window.
I raced for the car knowing I would need to beat the traffic to pick up my children. The liquefaction on the roads and panic on peoples faces as I drove was incredible. It was a relief to find Didi and Zin at their school and make it home through crawling traffic and no traffic lights.
Our pets were where they should be and our home and the lodge were showing no visible damage - a relief!
The horrors of the day unfolded on television and we realised how lucky we were to have power and water at West Melton.
As night fell we responded to a call for beds for displaced tourists.
Their hotels were destroyed or inaccessible and their belongings with them. It was after 10pm and dark as we drove into a rugby clubrooms and offered to take 4 people. We had Chen Ling Kuo and Hung Ju Cheni, 2 girls from Taiwan and Mitsufumi and Yoko Sekioka, a couple from Japan.
Two interesting days started with finding food for them (noodles) when we got home - they were starving. They were delighted when they woke to our rural surroundings. Didi made sushi for lunch assisted by Yoko who showed her how to make sushi rolls. We went to look for underwear and food at the Rolleston supermarket and had to queue to get in - no underwear for sale, but they could buy toothbrushes.
With fuel borrowed from a neighbour the next day I put them on a bus to Queenstown. No bags, just the clothes they stood up in. We wished them well and carried on with our own journey of earthquake aftermath - no school operating for 3 weeks, no work for the remainder of the week. Limited food and fuel in the city and people leaving. A natural disaster in our town.
Panda is the boss. Used to roaming forests, he moved to Pinot Lodge with us last year. Panda is a feisty cat, who ranges from a purring puss to quite savage. He is tolerated for his mouse hunting abilities and even keeps the feral rabbit population down.
