Christchurch

Departing Brisbane in the evening of May 1 for the short flight to Christchurch meant I landed quite late in NZ with the time change.  Again, another easy flight with a yummy vegetarian meal, two glasses of wine and time for one in a half movies (We Bought a Zoo and Crazy Stupid Love) left Air New Zealand still in first place in my book.  Then a fairly quick trip through customs (a non Australian or NZ Passport meant I was the first of so few internationals in line!) and my host, Paul, was right there waiting for me!  Choosing the color red for my backpack has really paid off making it über easy to be identified quickly by my hosts! 

I did have a little bit of excitement though first at baggage claim.  The little beagle at the baggage claim carousel before customs really liked my carry on bag which had held a rather ripe banana during my flight.  He kept coming back and back to my bag leading the customs official each time (to which he was awarded a treat over and over again), and by the third or fourth time I was becoming quite nervous that he might take away the Tim Tams or trail mix also in my bag!  But it turns out they are mainly after fruits, vegetables, and dirt!  My hiking boots were deemed ok though and did not get hosed down as I had heard stories from others about.

So on the drive to Paul's place I got to see and learn about the series of earthquakes that devastated Christchurch last year.  The city has essentially been destroyed.  Roughly half of the downtown area, the "red zone" is now behind a fence.  Enclosed and off limits are buildings that had severe damage and fell on their own, but also ones that are still standing and just deemed to be unsafe.  I learned this is/was the largest insurance claim in the southern hemisphere and the far majority of claims have not been paid out.  So I have to say that the city was in sad shape with fewer than 10 cranes at work.  Paul believes that the next 6-12 months will see a quickened pace of rebuilding (though first demolition) as the checks should be cut soon and the city will start to see significant and meaningful progress.

The first earthquake was actually in September 2010, but that actually wasn't too severe.  The one that hit in February 2011 was the deadly one.  It apparently had a 2.2 g force.  That didn't mean anything to me, but apparently buildings in California are regarded as earthquake proof if they can withstand a g force of 0.9.  And the earthquake last March in Japan had a g force of only 0.7.  There have been approximately 10,000 aftershocks at this point and people no longer even give pause when one occurs.  Paul says everyone has become quite skilled in guessing the magnitude of each one and they were regularly feeling ones of 4.5 up until just a few weeks ago.  The last significant after shock was just in December, but now at this point Paul believes they are finally over.  (Though I had actually hoped to feel one, in my only 24 hours in Christchurch I sadly did not feel any quakes.)  So Christchurch may be in the clear for a little while now, however the city of Wellington at the bottom tip of the North Island actually sits on the biggest fault line in New Zealand and is even more pone to quakes. (fun fact: or a rather small country, New Zealand sits on three different tectonic plates.)

Asking what was it like in the city immediately after the earthquake, Paul shared the metaphor that it was like being in a brand new city that is unfamiliar to you and not being able to ask anyone where anything is.  Places, businesses, families all moved, closed, or were destroyed and you wouldn't know about it nor would your neighbors until you went there and learned for yourself.  Businesses that actually weren't damaged kind of suffered the most because they couldn't file insurance claims, but instead of being in a hustle bustle town with lots of foot traffic outside after the earthquake their business just outright plummeted.  With half the urban core fenced off and deemed unsafe to occupy the giant trend was for employees to work from home.  So that's what most people do now and Paul said it had an interesting new effect on traffic patterns that no one anticipated at first, but now things seem to have settled down and traffic is now more predictable.  One other interesting thing is that 85% of the hotel beds were lost from the earthquake (within the red zone).  So thank goodness for CouchSurfing because I probably couldn't have booked a room anywhere else!

I met up with Erik, a 27year old German guy, my first morning in Christchurch and we did a walking tour through the city.  I could see for myself that buildings, stores, hotels, and restaurants - the majority of food options - are now behind fences and were left just as is after the quake.  I saw McDonald's, Holiday Inn, Columbia sportswear company, bookstores, independent restaurants and retailers all abandoned behind the fence.  We saw one bookstore that was abandoned whose tables were left with books spilling off of them as though the earthquake had just happened.  Fortunately the Botanical Gardens were still open and we found a place for brunch so I was still in great spirits!

After work, Paul drove me to Lyttelton  which is actually apparently where Back to the Future was filmed years ago.  It served as a good set because it looks "out of date" and could easily pass for the 1970s still today.  It used to be a town that had the highest number of bars/pubs, but today only has a couple.  (It is actually super close to where the epicenter was.)  We had a drink at a bar called the Port Hole that was erected post-earthquake and it was built out of three shipping containers!

Then it was dinner time and Paul made a delicious pumpkin panang curry dish for us and then Erik and I hit the road to head further south!  It's been a true adventure so far here, but wifi is a real luxury here, so it's hard to know how often I will be able to give updates. Only 8 days left here!