West Coat Humour

Saw this in a shop in Hokitika. Love the sentiment.

After Kayak Drinks

Afterwards we had drinks at the Punakaiki tavern, a fine establishment. Outside are these concrete dray horses.

Out to Sea

We traveled up the river for as fas as we could and then turned around and paddled downstream through the lagoon to the mouth of the river. We didn't enter the sea as the west coast beaches can be quite wild.

Floating

The Pororari river cuts through a deep limestone canyon. the banks are covered in ferns, nikau and rimu trees. It is a great walk but the view from the river is even better.

Heading Upriver

In places the river was too low or we hit some rapids so we got out and pulled the kayaks along.

Canyon Walls

Rest Stop

There were lots of opportunities to get out and explore the river banks. James loved helping pull the kayaks up and tying them up.

Follow Mum

James was in a double kayak with me and Tracy had a single. The river was very calm.

Kayaking

We have not been kayaking since James was born and I haven't kayaked this river since 2003. However James is getting good at swimming and wanted to have a go so here we are. James was a natural. He knew just how to use the paddles to turn left and right.

Beachcomber

While we built our beach house, Big James went for a stroll along the beach. The view of the waves with the rain forest in the distance and Mt Cook towering in the distance is great.

Room With A View

It might look a bit ropey but the view was great. James decided it was a jail and locked me up. We stayed there till the sun was low in the sky. We watched a family catching fish. The dad paddled out to sea trailing a line of hooks stretching back to the beach.

Beach House

James and I built a beach house from drift wood.

Buried

Whenever we go to the beach I have to do this.

Punakaiki Beach

Paddling in a Lagoon

Today we drove up to the Paparoa national park, one of my favourite parts of New Zealand. James loves beaches so we walked along the beach next to the lagoon formed by the Pororari river.

Hokitika

James used the driftwood to make this sign. I told him how to spell Hokitika but he made the letters all by himself.

Driftwood

Most of the beaches on the west coast are littered with driftwood especially at the mouths of the larger rivers.

View North From Hokitika Beach

Mt Cook from Hokitika Beach

Franz Josef River

Iceblocks

Higher up the glacier is much cleaner and glistened in the sunshine.

Would You Like Ice With That?

If only I had a glass of whisky. James and I  both had a bite. It was very refreshing if a bit gritty. James thought it was funny that we 'ate a glacier'.

Iceberg

This boulder of ice bounced down the river as we ate lunch.

Blue Ice

The blue ice is streaked with dark layers of rock.

Ice Cave

At the terminus of the glacier is a large ice cave. We had our picnic next to the river and saw several small icebergs float by.

Franz Josef

The glacier tumbles down the valley and then continues as a river.

Waterfall

The valley was carved by the glacier so it is very steep and there are several waterfalls.

We went for a walk to view the Franz Josef glacier. This is an easy walk with lots to see. James got lots of geology lessons on the way.

Whataroa River

This morning we drove down to the Franz Josef for a look at the glaciers. The drive is fantastic. Large stretches of native forest filled with tall rimu trees interrupted by beautiful glacial rivers and glimpses of the nearby alps.

Getting Away From it All

We are having a week in Hokitika to get some respite from the constant aftershocks.

Sightseeing

The accessible part of the city was full of people out to see the damage to the city. It is an important part of the process of coming to terms with what has happened.

Leaning Tower

The Hotel Grand Chancellor looks more precarious every day.

Christchurch is Closed

The CBD remains behind a cordon.

Another Chippy Bites the Dust

There were flowers tied to the barricade outside this shop so someone must have died in here.

Munted

These were the shops on the corner of Stanmore and Worcester.

Bath Time Post Quake

With the water supply restricted James is having to have a bath in the bucket!

Rocketman

Tracy made this great rocket pack for James.

Just an Average Day In CHCH

Still Standing (Just)

I posted a few photos of this walkway after the September quake (we used to call that the big one, doesn't seem apt anymore). I was glad to see it was still standing but it is even more twisted than before. I managed to run across it during Tara's last visit but now the platform has tilted almost vertical at the worst point.

Munted

River Rd

This morning I went for a bike ride along the banks of the Avon. This area was hit bad during the last earthquake and it has suffered even worse this time. If you look closely, you can see my bicycle parked in the crack.

10+

From wikipedia, this is the Modified Mercalli scale (MMI) which is used to measure the intensity of earthquakes. The quake last week was measured at 10+

1. Instrumental: Not felt by many people unless in favourable conditions.
2. Weak: Felt only by a few people at best, especially on the upper floors of buildings. Delicately suspended objects may swing.
3. Slight: Felt quite noticeably by people indoors, especially on the upper floors of buildings. Many do not recognize it as an earthquake. Standing motor cars may rock slightly. Vibration similar to the passing of a truck. Duration estimated.
4. Moderate: Felt indoors by many people, outdoors by few people during the day. At night, some awakened. Dishes, windows, doors disturbed; walls make cracking sound. Sensation like heavy truck striking building. Standing motor cars rock noticeably. Dishes and windows rattle alarmingly.
5. Rather Strong: Felt outside by most, may not be felt by some outside in non-favourable conditions. Dishes and windows may break and large bells will ring. Vibrations like large train passing close to house.
6. Strong: Felt by all; many frightened and run outdoors, walk unsteadily. Windows, dishes, glassware broken; books fall off shelves; some heavy furniture moved or overturned; a few instances of fallen plaster. Damage slight.
7. Very Strong: Difficult to stand; furniture broken; damage negligible in building of good design and construction; slight to moderate in well-built ordinary structures; considerable damage in poorly built or badly designed structures; some chimneys broken. Noticed by people driving motor cars.
8. Destructive: Damage slight in specially designed structures; considerable in ordinary substantial buildings with partial collapse. Damage great in poorly built structures. Fall of chimneys, factory stacks, columns, monuments, walls. Heavy furniture moved.
9. Violent: General panic; damage considerable in specially designed structures, well designed frame structures thrown out of plumb. Damage great in substantial buildings, with partial collapse. Buildings shifted off foundations.
10. Intense: Some well built wooden structures destroyed; most masonry and frame structures destroyed with foundation. Rails bent.
11. Extreme: Few, if any masonry structures remain standing. Bridges destroyed. Rails bent greatly.
12. Cataclysmic: Total destruction - Everything is destroyed. Lines of sight and level distorted. Objects thrown into the air. The ground moves in waves or ripples. Large amounts of rock move position. Landscape altered, or leveled by several meters. In some cases, even the routes of rivers are changed.

The force of the quake was "statistically unlikely" to occur more than once in 1000 years, according to one seismic engineer, with a PGA (peak ground acceleration) greater than many modern buildings were designed to withstand. The acceleration experienced in February 2011 would "totally flatten" most world cities, causing massive loss of life; in Christchurch, New Zealand's stringent building codes limited the disaster.


If you live in L.A. you might want to read this.

The Big Picture

This map (click to embiggen) shows the location of all the earthquakes we have experienced since Sept 4th. The ones since Feb 22nd are in red.

The big aftershock last week was unprecedented. The latest info suggests that it may have been the most violent earthquake to have ever hit a built up area anywhere in the world. The magnitude was not especially large but several factors combined to exaggerate its power. First, it was very close to the city and very shallow. Second, the liquefaction that occurred enhanced the shaking. Third, the port hills (the NW edge of banks peninsula that mark the southern boundary of the city and are mostly dense basalt) acted as a lens, focusing the seismic energy onto the central city.

This is borne out by the data. At the epicentre of the much larger September quake, the peak ground acceleration (PGA) was 1.26g. In the Haiti earthquake that killed a quarter of a million people the PGA was 0.5g. During the earthquake that hit us last week, most of the city experienced a PGA of 2.2g and the ground was shaking side to side by a metre. The port hills now stand 50cm higher and 50cm westward than before.

The New Zealand building code is one of the strictest in the world. Buildings must be able to withstand a PGA of 0.7g. We experienced over three times that and it is no surprise that so much of the city has been destroyed. The only factor that worked in our favour is that the magnitude of the aftershock was only 6.3. This resulted in a shorter quake that lasted about 20 seconds whereas the September quake lasted 50 seconds.