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Dunedin-EARTHQUAKE-Christchurch
We were very happy with our night in the Bayview Motel in Dunedin - the motel was easy to find and the unit was well laid out and very spacious, able to sleep four.
We stopped en route to ogle the Moeraki boulder field. Very bizarre, they are close to spherical. Cracks that look a bit like folds on the surface cause some of them to resemble the Death Star - but they are large, a metre or so in diameter, spread like marbles on the beach.
A little way down the road the radio flashed the news that there had been an earthquake in Christchurch. We hadn't noticed anything. Extrapolating from the time quoted, we were on the road at the time, somewhere in the vicinity of Oamaru. As stations came and went through the rural countryside, we picked up more and more snippets - when they said the epicentre was by Lyttelton I knew it was going to be bad, as that's a lot closer to the centre of Chch than the September quake. The mayor said on the radio that cordons were being established essentially around the whole CBD and that people should stay away. This led us to a quandary: the Tuscana (motel, our booked bed for the night) was right on the edge of the CBD, and the car hire place a couple of blocks towards the centre from there.
We stopped for tea and petrol about 90km before Chch, and were able to use wifi there to send "we're alive" type emails and make drive-by DW/LJ posts. I couldn't get through to the motel; the network was busy, then the number was out of service, which tallied with the reports of phones and power being down across the city. I also left a message for the employment agent through whom I have a 10am interview arranged for tomorrow saying "well, we're OK, I can probably still make it if the company can".
Reports came in of gridlock from people fleeing the city, trying to make their way around rubble and muck in the streets. We were overtaken by fire engines and ambulances from towns we had passed through earlier in the day - all part of a massive mobilisation.
We stopped for early dinner only a little later on the grounds that we didn't know what we were potentially facing, or indeed whether we had a bed for the night. I managed to get through to the motel, which was answered by a guest who said the owners had gone out and reckoned we were best off staying away; the power had only just come back on, and he was planning to sleep out of doors. A quick look at a local phone book provided some plausible places to ring near the airport; when I got through to one they said no, they were full (and had suffered some damage) and had no alternative suggestions up their sleeve, reckoning that most places round their way would be full. We decided to press on towards Chch and see what we could find.
We ended up going along Roydvale Avenue, which we knew had several B&Bs; none of them had anything. Heading towards the CBD and the other motel strip we knew was there, we saw building after building surrounded by police tape. We couldn't even get to the motel strip proper, as Papanui Street was completely cordoned off while some building fronts were being worked on with some heavy kit. Many blocks were without power to traffic or street lights (it was getting dark); some petrol stations were closed, while those open were queueing around the block. Blocks that I ought to recognise having been there just a week ago.
So we turned around and headed northwards in the hopes of finding more accommodation. Alas, there were "no vacancy" signs everywhere; exasperated, we took the motorway north out of town for about 10km to Kaiapoi, the next townlet. There was no luck from the first set of accommodation signage we followed; just as we were contemplating finding somewhere safeish to park the car and hunker down overnight, we saw another... which had plenty of space! They're a conference and training centre run by the local Scout Association, so the accommodation comprised single serviced rooms, but that sounded infinitely better than a night in the car or even at an emergency welfare centre. With heavy rain lashing against the window I am really quite glad of having a warm bed tonight, and sorrowful for those who are without.
In the TV lounge we saw footage of the devastation. The Cathedral has lost its spire, and the rest of the building is badly damaged. Large parts of the CBD have suffered major damage with some entire buildings reduced to rubble. There are something like six major rescue operations ongoing and countless minor. The scary thing is, we were there a week ago, and would probably have spent some time in the CBD tomorrow. We swapped tales with some similarly displaced English, Dutch and Aussie tourists - one set were on a tram when it happened, another had gone to retrieve their passports etc from an in-danger-of-collapse motel. We seem to have dodged a bullet here - there but, &c., go I.
2300 edit: Aftershock! While sitting on the floor it wobbled underneath me very slightly.
0005 edit: Aftershock! More violent than the previous. Sitting at the desk, the room creaked and there was a sudden jolt sideways. "Crap!" I thought and dived for the side of the bed, but it seemed to be already over by then. (C reported a slight judder and low frequency rumbling for several seconds before the main jolt.)
When the laws of your universe are suddenly violated (you know, those invariants you take for granted like "the floor does not shake") it's pretty alarming :(. It could be a long night.
0800 edit: Well I slept fitfully, roused around 3am by another significant aftershock. C reports there were several more, albeit quite gentle ones - I seem to have slept through (or failed to notice) most of them. No word from the agent, and no internet here to check email - I think we're just going to try to head over to the place at the appointed time and see how they're doing.
We were very happy with our night in the Bayview Motel in Dunedin - the motel was easy to find and the unit was well laid out and very spacious, able to sleep four.We stopped en route to ogle the Moeraki boulder field. Very bizarre, they are close to spherical. Cracks that look a bit like folds on the surface cause some of them to resemble the Death Star - but they are large, a metre or so in diameter, spread like marbles on the beach.
A little way down the road the radio flashed the news that there had been an earthquake in Christchurch. We hadn't noticed anything. Extrapolating from the time quoted, we were on the road at the time, somewhere in the vicinity of Oamaru. As stations came and went through the rural countryside, we picked up more and more snippets - when they said the epicentre was by Lyttelton I knew it was going to be bad, as that's a lot closer to the centre of Chch than the September quake. The mayor said on the radio that cordons were being established essentially around the whole CBD and that people should stay away. This led us to a quandary: the Tuscana (motel, our booked bed for the night) was right on the edge of the CBD, and the car hire place a couple of blocks towards the centre from there.
We stopped for tea and petrol about 90km before Chch, and were able to use wifi there to send "we're alive" type emails and make drive-by DW/LJ posts. I couldn't get through to the motel; the network was busy, then the number was out of service, which tallied with the reports of phones and power being down across the city. I also left a message for the employment agent through whom I have a 10am interview arranged for tomorrow saying "well, we're OK, I can probably still make it if the company can".
Reports came in of gridlock from people fleeing the city, trying to make their way around rubble and muck in the streets. We were overtaken by fire engines and ambulances from towns we had passed through earlier in the day - all part of a massive mobilisation.
We stopped for early dinner only a little later on the grounds that we didn't know what we were potentially facing, or indeed whether we had a bed for the night. I managed to get through to the motel, which was answered by a guest who said the owners had gone out and reckoned we were best off staying away; the power had only just come back on, and he was planning to sleep out of doors. A quick look at a local phone book provided some plausible places to ring near the airport; when I got through to one they said no, they were full (and had suffered some damage) and had no alternative suggestions up their sleeve, reckoning that most places round their way would be full. We decided to press on towards Chch and see what we could find.
We ended up going along Roydvale Avenue, which we knew had several B&Bs; none of them had anything. Heading towards the CBD and the other motel strip we knew was there, we saw building after building surrounded by police tape. We couldn't even get to the motel strip proper, as Papanui Street was completely cordoned off while some building fronts were being worked on with some heavy kit. Many blocks were without power to traffic or street lights (it was getting dark); some petrol stations were closed, while those open were queueing around the block. Blocks that I ought to recognise having been there just a week ago.
So we turned around and headed northwards in the hopes of finding more accommodation. Alas, there were "no vacancy" signs everywhere; exasperated, we took the motorway north out of town for about 10km to Kaiapoi, the next townlet. There was no luck from the first set of accommodation signage we followed; just as we were contemplating finding somewhere safeish to park the car and hunker down overnight, we saw another... which had plenty of space! They're a conference and training centre run by the local Scout Association, so the accommodation comprised single serviced rooms, but that sounded infinitely better than a night in the car or even at an emergency welfare centre. With heavy rain lashing against the window I am really quite glad of having a warm bed tonight, and sorrowful for those who are without.
In the TV lounge we saw footage of the devastation. The Cathedral has lost its spire, and the rest of the building is badly damaged. Large parts of the CBD have suffered major damage with some entire buildings reduced to rubble. There are something like six major rescue operations ongoing and countless minor. The scary thing is, we were there a week ago, and would probably have spent some time in the CBD tomorrow. We swapped tales with some similarly displaced English, Dutch and Aussie tourists - one set were on a tram when it happened, another had gone to retrieve their passports etc from an in-danger-of-collapse motel. We seem to have dodged a bullet here - there but, &c., go I.
2300 edit: Aftershock! While sitting on the floor it wobbled underneath me very slightly.
0005 edit: Aftershock! More violent than the previous. Sitting at the desk, the room creaked and there was a sudden jolt sideways. "Crap!" I thought and dived for the side of the bed, but it seemed to be already over by then. (C reported a slight judder and low frequency rumbling for several seconds before the main jolt.)
When the laws of your universe are suddenly violated (you know, those invariants you take for granted like "the floor does not shake") it's pretty alarming :(. It could be a long night.
0800 edit: Well I slept fitfully, roused around 3am by another significant aftershock. C reports there were several more, albeit quite gentle ones - I seem to have slept through (or failed to notice) most of them. No word from the agent, and no internet here to check email - I think we're just going to try to head over to the place at the appointed time and see how they're doing.
scared
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