New Zealand - The Rumble

I've made it to New Zealand which in and of itself isn't much of a stand alone accomplishment. I didn't swim here or anything.  I did come the long way round and spent 15 hours recently sitting within the comfortable confines of Singapore Airlines (again, no hardship there). I've gone directly to the South Island and the largest city there - Christchurch.  This is actually my second time visiting as a friend and I made our way here once to ski about 30 years ago.  My dim memories are of lots of sheep and a cozy sleepy little city-ette (not quite big enough to be a proper city).  It's grown and shrunk in recent years, however an afternoon stroll through the city centre reminded of how English country-side picturesque it is, complete with winding River Avon.

What strikes you (allow me a small pun) about Christchurch is the building going on, or rather re-building. There are many derelict buildings and many more new strong looking structures - lots of externalized steel skeletons and new finishes.  The skyline is dotted by construction cranes, all looking to recreate their city.  Christchurch in the last 5-6 years you see has been hit with earthquake after earthquake and their last big one was on Valentine's Day this year*.  They have seen so much movement in fact that the job of rebuilding had to be put off until things calmed down. It's taken it's toll of course.  While 185 people died on that 2011 day of the first big quake, more than 75,000 have left the city since searching out better more stable places to live. A lack of stability means something different here than it does elsewhere.  The local rebuilding cost estimate goes to $45B NZD.  

Let me explain the * above.  So I spent the day looking around and sourcing one or two missing bits for my upcoming walk.  I bought some Indian food in the supermarket as my little hotel room came with a microwave oven and settled in early, tired from all the flying.  I was woken up at almost the stroke of midnight by noise and shaking and will admit to being pretty disoriented.  I got up quickly as my bed was shaking and I distinctly recall the floor also shaking - flowing is more accurate - I was aware of the sensation but couldn't wrap my brain around it. Until I could - this was an earthquake. I was in an earthquake. Now keep in mind I was asleep in bed for the onset and it did take me a few moments of head-churning to "get it".  I was confused and didn't know what to do - it was hard to grasp the severity after all. I popped open the sliding glass door as I was looking and listening for sound clues - falling crashing debris, screaming, sirens - and my rationale was that if anything that would give me a clue, as the room kept shaking and moving.  I heard nothing save the earthquake sound itself as everything around me vibrated. That wasn't a sound heard so much as felt, and my brain flashed to whales and elephants.   Half my mind wondered why nothing had fallen on me and I started to gather up key belongings - passport, phone, wallet and so forth. I kept looking out at the two story car park outside my room and now open door to validate it wasn't tumbling. And the movements started to abate a little. I decided to forestall my escape (dressing, more key belongings etc) and went to the bathroom.  The shaking started again but didn't last more than 10 seconds this time. That said after-shock to me.  I think as still in fight or flight mode and so watched car park again. No people were obvious visually or otherwise - I was the only one in this earthquake it seemed.  I wondered if they were all like this.  I popped open my phone and goggled "Christchurch Earthquake Nov 14" and got the following result.  That also calmed me as it was already online and so the world was acting as it should it seemed.  I texted my wife as I imagined she might be worried.

With little commotion from others I also elected to play it cool and went back to bed. I felt a couple more aftershocks and it started to feel like airplane turbulence, which I admittedly somewhat perversely enjoy.  In my head I knew I had an alarm set for 4:30am to get a plane to Queenstown (which I somewhat doubted would operate) but imagined the airport might be as good a place as any to get news.  And I slept.  How could that be ? How can you go through a 7.5M earthquake and go right back to sleep ?   Well, in fairness I was tired from the trip and the complete lack of reaction around me (still no sirens, flashing lights or screams for help) told me this was routine. 

When I did wake at 4:30 (yes, I'd slept soundly) I popped open the same sliding door and there was a guy on the car park roof who told me tsunamis were due and to stay on high ground.  Clearly I'd had a better night than him.  I got ready, called for a taxi and proceeded to the airport with perhaps New Zealand's most zen taxi driver who espoused his belief that you can only worry about what you can control. What a place this is.  I can only imagine the universe altering effect of an earthquake like this back home, but here it's just another Sunday night.  

Of course my flight was cancelled and there was some fun getting down to Queenstown where I now am (Air New Zealand did an aborted last minute landing and our airport bus broke down necessitating a replacement). So besides feeling like an absolute bad-luck virus today, I'm probably most impacted by these people. 

New Zealand has always struck me as the densest beauty in the world - the mountains and fjords are adjacent to rolling hills and stunning coasts. Glaciers and palm trees all in a tight little package. But it's the resilience of the people that struck me most today. I'm wondering now what it would take to get an over-the-top reaction from them. More importantly I'm wondering how I can be more like them.  Toughness personified.