Post Valentines Day Quake, CBD focus. Deja vu: Sun 14.02.16, Christchurch. M5.7 quake, depth 15km, 15km E of Christchurch, 1.13pm (GeoNet). Pegasus Bay Fault, quiet since 23 December, Xmas Quake Swarm. Active again. Leah & I were in Timaru at the time, 162km S of Christchurch, having lunch at Sticky Cafe, Pak 'n Save. Leah felt the quake. I didn't. On our drive back to Fairlie Leah checked out GeoNet & texted our sons who text replied:
Luke, Berwick St rental: "Big! Biggest one I've felt in a long time. Very jolty, rolled on for quite a while. Lots of aftershocks since." Luke did salvage work the last couple of years, dangerous work in an active quake-zone.
Jake, Cassels Brewery, Garlands Rd: "I'm totally fine. House etc & friends all good. No worries :) When the quake hit it just so happened that all of us 6 chefs were congregated all in the same area of the kitchen when stuff got a bit wobbly. I instinctively took my earth- surfing stance & had my 23cm knife pointing outwards from me, gripped in my right hand :) Luckily no one else was standing too close to me. Ha Ha."
Jake's "earth-surfing" was apt, if one wasn't diving for cover, or rushing for a door-frame, for protection. Seismic-waves rolling underfoot, caused bent knees & arms akimbo for balance. I once described to an Oamaru friend that surviving a big quake was like being bashed at the bottom of a rugby-scrum, or being dumped by a huge wave. No control.
Updated my Facebook status letting family & friends know we were OK. Several "likes" & compassionate responses. No troll comments.
Over the next few days, TV1 & The Press reported there were no fatalities, but there were rockfalls at Godley Head, Whitewash Head, Sumner's Richmond Hill & Peacocks Gallop. There were reports of liquefaction at Kairaki Beach & Parklands roads were liquefactioned again, with sinkholes & sewage-leaks: Bower Ave, Broadhaven Ave, Courtfield Cl, Hurst Pl, Linkwater Way. Deja vu: Post 23 December, Xmas Quake Swarm, I snapped those liquefactioned Parklands roads.
Christ Church Cathedral's west facade crumbled more, despite steel buttressing, dubbed the "Battering Ram".
EQC accepted claims for the Valentines Day Quake. Given EQC's ineptitude over the last 5 years with shoddy repairs, 1 000s of repairs & claims still unresolved & insurers still waiting for EQC to decide on overcap $100 000 properties for previous quakes, some Valentines Day quake claimants would wait more years for their claims to be resolved by EQC & insurers.
Sun 21.02.16. Deja vu Cathedral Sq: A protest about EQC & insurer delays in resolving claims. Deja vu: 08.08.12 Protest I'd attended at Clarence St & Princess St, protesting EQC & insurer delays. Latest protest, 5 years post 22 February quake: 4 500 repair / rebuild claims, still unresolved; 5 500 repairs on EQC / Fletcher shoddy repairs claims, unresolved. What were PM Key, CERA minister Brownlee, CERA minions, Human Rights Commissioner doing about EQC's & insurers' slackness?
Sat-Sun 27-28.02.16. Deja vu Leah's London St teaching & to see our sons. Sat: I trekked Christchurch's CBD, deja vu rebuild: Cashel Mall: The Terrace, new greystone steps on Avon River bank. (Waterfowl toilet) BNZ; ANZ; a huge parking garage behind The Crossing on Lichfield St; Justice & Emergency Services Precinct going up, between Lichfield St & Tuam St. All those new bldgs had sturdy steel frames. Pagoda Court ghost, Colombo St, dwarfed by BNZ & ANZ. Rebuilds darkened Cashel Mall again, forming a W-E wind-funnel from Bridge of Remembrance. (2018-19. Pagoda Court would be demolished for a Kathmandu rebuild).
Deja vu New Regent St: Not Funny, 5 bldgs red-sticker-cordoned (27.02.16) by Council as dangerous after 5 years of quakes. Council only woke up to the danger after Valentines Day quake! Par for Council, like Council libraries closed for repairs long after quakes: South Library, Fendalton Library, Bishopdale Library...
Deja vu Cathedral Sq: Christ Church Cathedral ghost: Still fenced-cordoned after 5 years' neglect. Widened cracks, all exterior walls. Loose Oamaru whitestones, cladded corners, buttresses, window arches. Heritage-hailers wanted to restore the rubble-walled ruin. I wandered Christ Church Cathedral border, snapping weedy neglect, widened cracks, loose stones & protest slogans, chalked on flagstones, curbs & boards on closed Millennium Hotel / Distinction Hotel. Next door, BNZ ghost, part-demolition, covered in graffiti. (Sept 2018. BNZ, completely demolished, new Spark steel-frame, multi-storey offices would go up.) What a mess CERA left Cathedral Sq after 5 years' occupation.
S side Christ Church Cathedral ghost, greystone border wall & greystone paving, chalked protest signs:
JACK + PACK [Shoddy jack-&-pack, foundation-repairs by Fletcher contractors].
VULNERABLE [To flooding & liquefaction according to EQC assessments].
FLETCHER'S KEY'S
CLOWNS [Fletchers, Crown company did shoddy post-quake repairs to 1 000s of houses].
THE FLAG OR THE PEOPLE [PM Key's $26m flag referendum].
LIES LIES & MORE LIES
HONORABLE PM KEY IS A SELF CENTRED LIAR
CRIMINALS
CORRUPT INSURANCE COMPANIES & GOVT DEPARTMENTS
GET OFF YOUR ARSE GERRY [Brownlee] & OUT OF THE POCKET OF THE INSURANCE COMPANIES
INSURANCE BULLIES
TOWER
STILL WAITING [Tower, Crown insurance company delayed many payouts].
CORRUPTION RULES CHCH!
STUCK
TAKING TOO LONG
Manchester St: Margaret Mahy Family Playground, kids enjoyed playing. Parents relaxed below poplars on Avon River bank. No shade over the playground, yet.
Deja vu Oxford Tce: 5 years post-quakes, below Rydges Hotel ghost, Our City ghost, scaffolded, steel-mesh-fence-cordoned. Ditto Provincial Council ghost on opp Avon River Bank. (2021. Our City would begin repairs, bldg & scaffolding covered in white-plastic. Provincial Council still mothballed, awaited repairs).
Deja vu Hereford St / Cambridge Tce: New carpark garage going up on Central Police implosion site.
Durham St Nth: Awly Building, glass-&-steel, multi-storey, office block rebuild loomed above Provincial Council ghost.
Deja vu Victoria Sq - Cathedral Sq: NZ National govt's Blueprint Convention Centre / Te Pae: 5 years post-quakes, no rebuild yet. Just a vast, steel-mesh-fence-cordoned, dusty demolition-site. (Sept 2018. Convention Centre / Te Pae steel frame going up. Sept 2019. Ditto, some cladding. 2020. Te Pae, almost completed, progress delayed by Covid-19 pandemic. 2022. Te Pae would open).
Gloucester St Bridge: After 3 years' cordon-closure, Gloucester St Bridge, being restored by SCIRT. Steel mesh fence cordon, SCIRT suggestion book, I wrote: 5 YEARS! TOO SLOW!
Deja vu Durham St Nth / Kilmore St: Gap Filler activities, like food-trailers, Commons sports, dancing, band-playing, by wooden Arches on Crowne Plaza Hotel demolition-site near Town Hall restoration. At Last!
Deja vu Hagley Park: Year of the Monkey, Chinese New Year, Lantern Festival. 1 000s of viewers. CERA's last year of Christchurch occupation. CERA would morph into Regeneration Christchurch, organ-grinded by National's PM Key & minister Brownlee.
Deja vu: Mon 29.02.16. Leap Year Day quake, 3.32am, M4.3, 5km depth, 5km S of Christchurch. (GeoNet). Port Hills fault again. We'd returned to Fairlie. But our sons awoke to strong jolts. There were so many known & unknown, crustal faults in & around Christchurch, when one ruptured, another soon ruptured, different faults rupturing for Valentines Day & Leap Year Day aftershocks. Extinct Port Hills volcano cracks still flexed...
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
See Submarine faulting beneath Pegasus Bay (NIWA).
See EQC has about 5500 shoddily repaired homes to fix (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Christchurch quake Still waiting for repairs 5 years on (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Hundreds protest outstanding EQC & insurance claims in Cathedral Square (The Press / Stuff Co).
See PM John Key's opinion of Christchurch's recovery (The Press / Stuff Co).
See A city of two halves new quake reignites old battles (The Press / Stuff Co).
See New Regent St owner agrees to engineering inspections (The Press / Stuff Co).
See Quake claimant to fellow IAG customers clog the system (The Press / Stuff Co).
Monday, February 15, 2016
Saturday, February 13, 2016
Catlins Coast Letter
10.02.16. A letter to our sons:
Hope your trip to Nelson & beyond went OK Luke & that everything's OK at Cassels Brewery Jake. I didn't feel Tuesday's mag 5.7 Kaikoura quake, too far south. Did you?
Leah's now back into her second week's teaching at Lake Tekapo & I've climbed Mt John 4x since her return, to get hill-walking fit again. I climbed once with Leah last weekend & the other 3x mingled with tourists, mainly Chinese. Nice sunny February weather. I'm hoping to find 2 DOC huts up Lake Tekapo on Mt Gerald Station & do more Mt Hay Station tramps this summer. Hopefully Leah will start Monday evening, yoga classes at Lake Tekapo, so I'll have looooong Mondays for my walks. As it's high tourist season, thousands of tourists pass through Lake Tekapo daily, with overcrowding at the camp site & public toilets. And rubbish discarded on the shore too. The new pedestrian bridge to the Church of the Good Shepherd is a good wander.
Our Catlins Coast trip we did in the last week of Leah's Xmas holidays:
Day 1: Drove Fairlie to Dunedin & stayed at Leith Valley camp site, in wooden chalet rooms. That weekend Dunedin had a vintage car rally, so the camp site was full of vintage campers & vintage cars too. Wandered Dunedin Botanic Gdns & student rental streets near University of Otago. We saw those streets on TV when students' booze up shenanigans hit the news. Some rentals have odd names above doors. Wandered varsity grounds too, Bought Thai takeaways near the camp site.
Day 2: Drove Dunedin to Balclutha to Kaka Point on Catlins Coast. Lunch at rainy Balclutha. Drove beside wide Balclutha River a bit to Kaka Point with great views of the bay where Balclutha River meets the Pacific. Drove a dirt road to Nugget Point & walked a DOC track to the light house with views of a seal colony on rocks below & Nuggets / stacks scattered in the sea beyond the light house. Looking southwards from Nugget Point I counted 4 headlands & bays.
Catlins Coast consists of a series of rugged headlands & bays with hilly farmlands behind, where the tarred road sidles the headlands. We drove dirt roads to reach the coast.
We had blue cod, chips & salad supper at the only bar / restaurant in Kaka Point. A sandy beach walk settled our food. We slept at a B & B near the restaurant.
Day 3: Busy. Drove southwards to Surat Bay, a few cribs at Newhaven & more cribs at Pounawea across the bay. Great views of Surat Bay from Pounawea camp site.
Drove to Owaka with its new aluminium, waka sculpture. Saw Owaka Museum & its history of Catlins Coast shipwrecks. Saw an Owaka house with hundreds of teapots in the garden.
Drove to Purakaunui Bay: Sheep on the dirt road, two seals on the beach & DOC campers nearby. The tall cliffs by the bay are worth the side trip. A good surfing bay.
Drove southwards: Walked to Purakaunui Falls, Drove further south & walked to Matai Falls & Horseshoe Falls above. Walked a bit of the Rail Trail through a rocky, bushy cutting.
A Rail Trail information board read:
"The building of the Catlins River Railway line between Balclutha and Tahakopa was started in 1879 and completed in 1915. It closed in 1971. The line was of great significance for the 19th and 20th century settlement of the Catlins, as it provided reliable transport for people, timber, farm produce and supplies before roads and road transport improved.
'In common with many early branch lines it was very tortuous, with deep cuttings. Because of the nature of the country many steep grades were encountered.' (Russel Glendenning - legendary local railway man).
The 1 in 40 average grade of this section of the line was one of the steepest in the South Island railway system and the fully laden trains struggled to keep going uphill when the rails were slippery."
Further south we enjoyed views of Tautuku Bay & Peninsula from Florence Hill Lookout: Waves rolled in from the Antarctic, a bushy sandy beach below.
Drove through coastal bush & stopped at Papatowai for a windy, beach walk & coffee at the Lost Gypsy Gallery, a hippy bus filled with funny gadgets for sale.
Drove south through native bush & walked to Lake Wilkie, a glacial, kettlehole lake, in native bush. A farmer wearing gum boots, was worried about a drunken worker, lost in the bush. We told him we'd seen the drunkard, waving a beer bottle, wandering way back on the main road. The farmer drove off to find him.
Didn't see Cathedral Caves - closed for the day.
Drove south through more native bush & walked to McClean Falls.
Drove south through coastal bus to Waikawa where we settled into a two bed room house opposite Waikawa Museum.
Early evening we drove to Curio Bay to see the fossil forest at low tide: There were many lengths of petrified wood on a tidal rock platform. I slipped on kelp while coolpixing. Like at Lake Tekapo, there were many tourists along Catlins Coast. Leah chatted to a Chartres Frenchman cyclist, who'd already cycled Australia & was now doing NZ. Leah told him we'd visited Chartres Cathedral during our 1981 Eurrail trip.
A bronze plaque on the roadside near the fossil forest read:
"CURIO BAY FOSSIL FOREST
This forest grew in the Jurassic period. About 160 000 000 years ago. In a semi-tropical climate and consisted of trees like the kauri and lesser trees such as cycads and conifers. As well as fern like plants. Grasses & flowering plants had not yet come into existence.
The forest occupied the low swampy coast of a land that once extended south from this point. The coast continued north-west from this area across northern southland. And most of the rest of NZ was beneath the sea.
The forest was killed suddenly by being buried under a flood of ash from a volcanic eruption on the ancient land. And the ash now forms the hard sandstone beds in the cliff edges. Long after the ancient land disappeared and present NZ emerged. These sandstone strata were cut back by action of the sea. To reveal the broken logs and stumps still in the original position of growth. The present rock shelf around the stumps is the original floor of the Jurassic forest.
Known fossil forests of this age are very few throughout the world. And this the most varied and remarkable of them all.
This forest is absolutely protected and it is an offence to damage or destroy it in any way, or to remove any souvenir from it."
Day 4: Returned to Fairlie via Catlins Coast again, Dunedin & stayed a night at a two bed room holiday home at Waikouaiti. Nice sandy beach there, a big hill, Cornish Head above the north end of the beach.
Our new Nikon Coolpix camera worked well, so we have pics to show. Lots of native bush & bird life along Catlins Coast, like spoonbills, gulls, pied stilts, oyster catchers, paradise shelducks, NZ pigeons...
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
Hope your trip to Nelson & beyond went OK Luke & that everything's OK at Cassels Brewery Jake. I didn't feel Tuesday's mag 5.7 Kaikoura quake, too far south. Did you?
Leah's now back into her second week's teaching at Lake Tekapo & I've climbed Mt John 4x since her return, to get hill-walking fit again. I climbed once with Leah last weekend & the other 3x mingled with tourists, mainly Chinese. Nice sunny February weather. I'm hoping to find 2 DOC huts up Lake Tekapo on Mt Gerald Station & do more Mt Hay Station tramps this summer. Hopefully Leah will start Monday evening, yoga classes at Lake Tekapo, so I'll have looooong Mondays for my walks. As it's high tourist season, thousands of tourists pass through Lake Tekapo daily, with overcrowding at the camp site & public toilets. And rubbish discarded on the shore too. The new pedestrian bridge to the Church of the Good Shepherd is a good wander.
Our Catlins Coast trip we did in the last week of Leah's Xmas holidays:
Day 1: Drove Fairlie to Dunedin & stayed at Leith Valley camp site, in wooden chalet rooms. That weekend Dunedin had a vintage car rally, so the camp site was full of vintage campers & vintage cars too. Wandered Dunedin Botanic Gdns & student rental streets near University of Otago. We saw those streets on TV when students' booze up shenanigans hit the news. Some rentals have odd names above doors. Wandered varsity grounds too, Bought Thai takeaways near the camp site.
Day 2: Drove Dunedin to Balclutha to Kaka Point on Catlins Coast. Lunch at rainy Balclutha. Drove beside wide Balclutha River a bit to Kaka Point with great views of the bay where Balclutha River meets the Pacific. Drove a dirt road to Nugget Point & walked a DOC track to the light house with views of a seal colony on rocks below & Nuggets / stacks scattered in the sea beyond the light house. Looking southwards from Nugget Point I counted 4 headlands & bays.
Catlins Coast consists of a series of rugged headlands & bays with hilly farmlands behind, where the tarred road sidles the headlands. We drove dirt roads to reach the coast.
We had blue cod, chips & salad supper at the only bar / restaurant in Kaka Point. A sandy beach walk settled our food. We slept at a B & B near the restaurant.
Day 3: Busy. Drove southwards to Surat Bay, a few cribs at Newhaven & more cribs at Pounawea across the bay. Great views of Surat Bay from Pounawea camp site.
Drove to Owaka with its new aluminium, waka sculpture. Saw Owaka Museum & its history of Catlins Coast shipwrecks. Saw an Owaka house with hundreds of teapots in the garden.
Drove to Purakaunui Bay: Sheep on the dirt road, two seals on the beach & DOC campers nearby. The tall cliffs by the bay are worth the side trip. A good surfing bay.
Drove southwards: Walked to Purakaunui Falls, Drove further south & walked to Matai Falls & Horseshoe Falls above. Walked a bit of the Rail Trail through a rocky, bushy cutting.
A Rail Trail information board read:
"The building of the Catlins River Railway line between Balclutha and Tahakopa was started in 1879 and completed in 1915. It closed in 1971. The line was of great significance for the 19th and 20th century settlement of the Catlins, as it provided reliable transport for people, timber, farm produce and supplies before roads and road transport improved.
'In common with many early branch lines it was very tortuous, with deep cuttings. Because of the nature of the country many steep grades were encountered.' (Russel Glendenning - legendary local railway man).
The 1 in 40 average grade of this section of the line was one of the steepest in the South Island railway system and the fully laden trains struggled to keep going uphill when the rails were slippery."
Further south we enjoyed views of Tautuku Bay & Peninsula from Florence Hill Lookout: Waves rolled in from the Antarctic, a bushy sandy beach below.
Drove through coastal bush & stopped at Papatowai for a windy, beach walk & coffee at the Lost Gypsy Gallery, a hippy bus filled with funny gadgets for sale.
Drove south through native bush & walked to Lake Wilkie, a glacial, kettlehole lake, in native bush. A farmer wearing gum boots, was worried about a drunken worker, lost in the bush. We told him we'd seen the drunkard, waving a beer bottle, wandering way back on the main road. The farmer drove off to find him.
Didn't see Cathedral Caves - closed for the day.
Drove south through more native bush & walked to McClean Falls.
Drove south through coastal bus to Waikawa where we settled into a two bed room house opposite Waikawa Museum.
Early evening we drove to Curio Bay to see the fossil forest at low tide: There were many lengths of petrified wood on a tidal rock platform. I slipped on kelp while coolpixing. Like at Lake Tekapo, there were many tourists along Catlins Coast. Leah chatted to a Chartres Frenchman cyclist, who'd already cycled Australia & was now doing NZ. Leah told him we'd visited Chartres Cathedral during our 1981 Eurrail trip.
A bronze plaque on the roadside near the fossil forest read:
"CURIO BAY FOSSIL FOREST
This forest grew in the Jurassic period. About 160 000 000 years ago. In a semi-tropical climate and consisted of trees like the kauri and lesser trees such as cycads and conifers. As well as fern like plants. Grasses & flowering plants had not yet come into existence.
The forest occupied the low swampy coast of a land that once extended south from this point. The coast continued north-west from this area across northern southland. And most of the rest of NZ was beneath the sea.
The forest was killed suddenly by being buried under a flood of ash from a volcanic eruption on the ancient land. And the ash now forms the hard sandstone beds in the cliff edges. Long after the ancient land disappeared and present NZ emerged. These sandstone strata were cut back by action of the sea. To reveal the broken logs and stumps still in the original position of growth. The present rock shelf around the stumps is the original floor of the Jurassic forest.
Known fossil forests of this age are very few throughout the world. And this the most varied and remarkable of them all.
This forest is absolutely protected and it is an offence to damage or destroy it in any way, or to remove any souvenir from it."
Day 4: Returned to Fairlie via Catlins Coast again, Dunedin & stayed a night at a two bed room holiday home at Waikouaiti. Nice sandy beach there, a big hill, Cornish Head above the north end of the beach.
Our new Nikon Coolpix camera worked well, so we have pics to show. Lots of native bush & bird life along Catlins Coast, like spoonbills, gulls, pied stilts, oyster catchers, paradise shelducks, NZ pigeons...
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
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