Due to "upmarket" housing developments over the years, it was impossible to drive hill lanes in sequence, as most lanes were no exit & partly housed Challenger Ln was lower on the hillside, only approachable from Redcliffs Main Rd via Egnot Hgts. Higher & lower lanes were connected by 150+ Mary Gregg Steps. Many houses were red stickered. There were other steep hillside & hilltop lanes, but those were enough horrors for one sunny day.
Parked near the top of Glenstrae Rd, snowy Alpine views beyond Canterbury Plains. On Balmoral Hill where I stood, sky was clear blue, but Christchurch below gasped in smog, caused by temperature inversion & winter fires.
02.08.11. Glenstrae Rd view, smoggy Christchurch on Canterbury Plains, Southern Alps beyond. Avon-Heathcote Estuary below, post June 13 quake
So much for EQC's scheme to replace quake damaged chimneys & fireplaces with new heating units. EQC could blame smog on liquefaction dust. EQC had boasted in The Press 30.07.11: "Installed and ordered more than 25 000 heating units under the winter heating programme to the most vulnerable homes in Christchurch." Christchurch smoke pollution was an annual wintry whinge in the media. Would CERA demolish those "vulnerable homes"?
02.08.11. Quake damaged, boarded, tarped house, Glenstrae Rd / Glendevere Tce, post June 13 quake
02.08.11. Quake damaged house, Glendevere Tce, post June 13 quake. C meant Clear no bodies, USAR / TF
02.08.11. C meant Clear no bodies, USAR / TF. Quake damaged house, Glendevere Tce, post June 13 quake
02.08.11. Glendevere Tce view, Redcliffs suburb, Avon-Heathcote Estuary, Southshore Spit, quake collapsed Shag Rock, Pacific, Clifton, Moncks Bay, post June 13 quake
Quake damages above Redcliffs, parallel Glendevere Tce & Dunkeld Ln: Cracked roads & pavements; broken retaining walls; blue water pipes exposed on roadsides; boarded ghost houses on slippery slopes; roadside portaloos; black, polyethylene, sewage pipe roadside, a pile of waste carpets by Balmoral Hill Reserve. Little quakemire on the heights, many cracks.
02.08.11. Quake damaged, retaining walls, odd numbered Glendevere Tce houses, post June 13 quake
02.08.11. Quake cracked house, Glendevere Tce, post June 13 quake
02.08.11. Quake damaged carpets, Balmoral Hill Reserve, Glendevere Tce, post June 13 quake
02.08.11. Quake damaged Glendevere Tce, post June 13 quake
Glendevere Tce: Even numbered, ghost houses teetered on top of Redcliffs, awaiting house-fall. Most were red stickered, but CERA's geotech stooges would take months to map the cliff top as red zone before any demolitions could happen.
02.08.11. Quake trashed, even numbered, Glendevere Tce house, Redcliffs edge, post June 13 quake
02.08.11. FOOTPATH CLOSED. Orange, plastic, road cone cordon. Blue, plastic, water pipe. Quake damaged Glendevere Tce, Redcliffs edge, post June 13 quake
02.08.11. Quake damaged, even numbered house, Glendevere Tce, Redcliffs edge, post June 13 quake
02.08.11. C meant Clear no bodies, USAR / TF. Quake damaged house, Glendevere Tce, post June 13 quake
02.08.11. Glendevere Tce view, Redcliffs suburb, Avon-Heathcote Estuary, Southshore Spit, quake collapsed Shag Rock, Pacific, Clifton, Moncks Bay, post June 13 quake
Quiet. Few cars, few people. Some houses empty, rubbish in gardens, household items & furniture strewn in rooms. Lovely hillside houses, spectacular views of Avon-Heathcote Estuary, Southshore Spit, Moncks Bay, quake-collapsed Shag Rock, Pacific. Hillside lanes above Redcliffs, shaken.
02.08.11. Bench plaque, Dunkeld Ln, post June 13 quake
02.08.11. Orange portaloo, Dunkeld Ln, post June 13 quake
02.08.11 Quake broken garden wall, Dunkeld Ln, post June 13 quake
02.08.11. Dunkeld Ln view, quake damaged Glendevere Tce house. C meant Clear no bodies, USAR / TF, post June 13 quake
02.08.11. USAR / TF graffito, Glendevere Tce pavement, post June 13 quake
Rocky road cutting, Redcliffs View Ln: Ghost houses with spectacular views; fallen garden wall; cracks in rock cutting; DANGER-taped decking on a steep slope; cracked road; few cars; few people.
02.08.11. Quake trashed garden wall, Glenstrae Rd / Redcliffs View Ln, post June 13 quake
02.08.11. Quake tilted lamp pole. Quake damaged housing, Redcliffs view, Redcliffs View Ln, post June 13 quake
Mary Gregg Steps: Shaky houses both sides, more than 150 concrete steps to Defender Ln, no exit lane. A picture window was popped off an unstable, wood-braced, ghost house wall at lane's end.
02.08.11. Mary Gregg Steps, Redcliffs View Ln, post June 13 quake
02.08.11. Mary Gregg Steps, quake damaged housing between Redcliffs View Ln & Defender Ln, post June 13 quake
02.08.11. Redcliffs cliff top, quake damaged, boarded house, seen from Defender Ln, post June 13 quake
02.08.11. Quake damaged house, Defender Ln, post June 13 quake
02.08.11. Defender Ln view, Redcliffs, Avon-Heathcote Estuary, Southshore Spit, Pacific, quake collapsed Shag Rock, Clifton, Moncks Bay, post June 13 quake
02.08.11. Quake damaged housing, Defender Ln, post June 13 quake
02.08.11. Quake damaged housing, Defender Ln / Challenger Ln, post June 13 quake
Challenger Ln: Ghost houses: broken; cracked walls; scattered rubble; loose roof tiles; conked roofs; warped garage doors, fallen garden wall; fallen retaining wall; cracked road. Pole sign:
REDUCE
SPEED
02.08.11. Quake damaged house, Challenger Ln, post June 13 quake
All the lanes I trekked had red, C lettering spray-painted on walls or pavements, showing USAR / TF teams had checked houses were clear of live or dead bodies post quakes. Some houses were red stickered. Blue, plastic, water pipes lined lanes. Someone had pink spray-painted LEAKS!! on a pavement.
02.08.11. Quake damaged housing, Challenger Ln, post June 13 quake
Challenger Ln: I snapped ghost houses below: shattered bricks peeled off a new house; brick wall peeled off an older house; roof tiles shaken off houses; house walls boarded; 2 orange, Hi-Vis vested, bldg inspectors, with clipboards, stiffened their spines on a house deck, when they saw me snapping above.
02.08.11. Quake damaged housing & 2 orange, Hi-Vis vested, bldg inspectors, Challenger Ln, post June 13 quake
They didn't know my Nikon's, liquid-crystal display was kaput. They scarpered, hiding behind another ghost house. I would return another day to complete my Challenger Ln pics. My digital, Nikon Coolpix camera had lasted only 2.5 years. My trekking over rubble, grey, quakemired roads & through clouds of dust had aged the camera quickly. I would also go through 2 new, Samsung digital cameras, prematurely aged, before my trekking finished, end of 2013.
04.08.11. Quake damaged house, Challenger Ln, post June 13 quake
Returned to my car up 150+ Mary Gregg Steps, heart pounding. A bloke jogged past panting, "I'm going up & down ten times!"
Via Moncks Spur Rd, I drove to Redcliffs Main Rd: June 13 Quake had caused more rockfalls, on Feb 22 Killer Quake rockfalls, massive rock fans below Redcliffs. Main Rd, I passed New World supermarket demolition site. The supermarket would be rebuilt.
Drove up Egnots Hgts past a collapsed, concrete, retaining wall, orange, plastic, road cone cordoned. Drove Challenger Ln I'd already walked. Drove to Main Rd again past a house demolition site near Redcliffs School.
04.08.11. Orange, plastic, road cone cordon. Quake collapsed retaining wall, Egnot Hts, post June 13 quake
Last time I'd passed, post Feb 22 Killer Quake, Redcliffs School reopened after quake-closure, shipping containers protecting the school from more rockfalls. This time, closed, school gate sign:
REDCLIFFS
SCHOOL
IS TEMPORARILY LOCATED AT
SUMNER
SCHOOL
Another sign:
SCHOOL
CLOSED
DO NOT
ENTER
04.08.11. Quake closed Redcliffs School & quake damaged Redcliffs, cliff top houses, Main Rd, post June 13 quake
Post June 13 Quake & rockfall dangers, Redcliffs School relocated to Sumner School for a couple of months, before relocating to Van Asch Deaf Education Centre, Sumner. Deaf pupils had moved on from their big grounds.
2015. Redcliffs School would still be at Van Asch. MOE minister Parata would refuse to reopen Redcliffs School, despite locals considering Redcliffs School safe.
Like Redcliffs School, several schools were disrupted by quakes, combining with other schools for a couple of years. 2012: MOE would aggravate education with its botched plan for closures & mergers of several Christchurch schools. MOE wouldn't bother to consult school staffs & communities properly & tried its closure / merger coercion without even using census figures, as the 2011 census was postponed due to quakes. MOE predictions about school numbers post quakes would be guesswork. MOE hadn't a clue about population shifts in Christchurch & surrounding towns during quakes.
04.08.11. Main Rd view, Redcliffs quake damaged, cliff top houses, post June 13 quake
In 1995, after our emigration from RSA, our sons had started school at Sumner, where we'd rented a house at Denman St. Driving on Main Rd, I could see Glendevere Tce, teetering on top of Redcliffs, ghost houses awaiting falls or demolitions.
04.08.11. Quake damaged Redcliffs housing, Main Rd, post June 13 quake
04.08.11. Steel mesh fence cordon, orange, plastic, road cones, shipping containers (covering Moa Bone Point Cave) protecting traffic against Redcliffs rock fall & house fall, Main Rd, post June 13 quake. The clifftop house would be demolished
Moncks Cave, still a rubble dump near New World demolition site. Moa Bone Point Cave was orange, plastic, road coned, 2 layer, shipping container cordoned, protecting traffic from Redcliffs rockfalls & house falls. Ghost house above the cave would be demolished. Opp the cave, another empty, demolition site.
04.08.11. Quake collapsed house wall, Main Rd, post June 13 quake,
*Trekked Glenstrae Rd, Glendevere Tce, Dunkeld Ln, Redcliffs View Ln, Mary Gregg Steps, Defender Ln, Challenger Ln, Egnot Hts, Main Rd. 118 snaps.
When I checked CERA's Landcheck website, Redcliffs hillside roads I'd trekked were all white zone, "hillside suburb mapping still underway," leaving all those ghost houses & families in limbo, 11 months post Sept 4 Darfield Quake & 5+ months post Feb 22 Killer Quake.
A week later, Mon 08.08.11, The Press featured a steep walk up Redcliffs including Egnot Hts, Challenger Ln, Glenstrae Rd, Glendevere Tce, Balmoral Reserve. Journalists got ideas from bloggers. It wasn't the first time I'd experienced the relationship: bloggers led, journalists followed.
11.08.11. The Press front page headline: "Rockfall risk means 150 Port Hills homes likely to be abandoned". Reported a couple of experts spouting rockfall risks. Pity their gobs were closed before cliff top houses were built!
12.08.11. Near Leah's Jean Seabrook Memorial School, the Feb 22 Killer Quake damaged & June 13 Quake trashed section of Richmond Working Mens Club, London St, was part demolished over the last week. Leah said whenever a digger bashed, or a dump truck rumbled by, the whole school shook, leaving staff & kids anxious. Noisy demolition vibes felt like quake aftershocks, the last thing staff & kids needed after surviving 2 major shakings, joltings & liquefactions of the school during those quakes. Took more than 5 months for the Club & demolishers to act. Meanwhile, London St was poorly repaired, potholed, bumpy. A steel mesh fence cordon by the Club obstructed busy traffic at Stanmore Rd cnr.
Sun 13.08.11. Helped Jake relocate again, fourth move in 6 months post Feb 22 Killer Quake. Nice 2 bedroom flat, Geraldine St, near the CBD. Grey quakemire still muddied places post June 13 Quake, roads still damaged, like nearby Packe St & Purchas St, where manholes were raised by quakes.
Eight sucker trucks parked on Geraldine St, awaiting sewage sucking the next week, ongoing. One sucker truck's registration: SLURP. Holed up in motels for the weekend, sucker truck operators slurped a fortune out of sewers clogged with quakemire & shit, dumped at Burwood Dump. Trouble with post quake contractors: Many heavy duty vehicles on Christchurch roads, taking up parking space, obstructing traffic, causing wear & tear on already damaged roads. Due to infrastructure renewals, excavations, road patching, heavy vehicles, the next few years would see Christchurch roads degrading, not improving.
That night it started snowing again, continued snowing intermittently for 2 days, NZ polar blasted.
Christchurch Council's Draft Central City Plan for the CBD was released over the past week. The Plan had loads of waffle, pretty pictures, maps, drawings, little on the fact Christchurch CBD was trashed by quakes, with draft planning to rebuild on quaked swampland, shaken & liquefactioned. Nice idea Avon River Park, but minimal, not extending to Avon-Heathcote Estuary.
Council's Draft Plan presumed acceptance by Christchurch citizens, who were forbidden seeing CBD extensive damage themselves, before it was demolished, sanitized, destroying evidence of previous poor planning & building. The Plan was released while the CBD was still NZDF cordoned & CERA occupied, 6 months post Feb 22 Killer Quake & nearly a year post Sept 4 Darfield Quake.
Council's Draft Plan for Christchurch CBD would be swallowed whole by CERA's Blueprint for Christchurch CBD, concocted over 100 days. CERA's meddling in Council affairs would continue for 5 years.
Content & pics Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
See Cliff top properties judged risk to life (The Press / Stuff Co).
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