Stirred, not shaken in Christchurch

As predicted, our stay in New Zealand has been extended due to 'natural catastrophe', i.e. grounded flights due to volcanic ash. But, rather than this being a really tense and stressful experience (BA take note!), Air New Zealand have refunded our flights while Qantas have, without quibble or request, rebooked our Sydney flights and put us up in a hotel for 4 nights while we wait for the skies to clear! I LOVE this country.

Christchurch really has been hammered by earthquakes over the last few months. There was 5 and a 6 two days before we arrived and a 4 took place as we sat in a car-wash – so we didn't notice! As we drove across the city to drop off our campervan we started to see the effect. Very sobering.

Navigating our way back on foot through a partially closed city we found ourselves dead-ended in eerily deserted residential streets; nothing but red and yellow placards pinned to front doors indicating whether a family could return home or not. Although a missing gable-end wall is a pretty good indication that things will never be the same again.

With all the media images of damage we are confronted with daily, it's natural to develop a certain numbness to the emotional trauma that lies behind that damage. But walk down a cracked and buckled street and see the wall of a house ripped off, as if it was made of Lego, exposing personal belongings, like the towel hanging in the bathroom, and it suddenly becomes shockingly real and heart-breakingly sad. Everything feels surreal, wrong.

Deserted streets, damaged buildings, eerie silence, it feels like a war-zone. I suppose it is a war; man against nature and nature is definitely on the offensive right now. I'm filled with awe and respect for the people here as they take another deep breath and start again, and again, and again. I also love their resilient attitude as illustrated by the “You crack me up” message scrawled in bright blue insulating tape across the cracked pavement. I did take a photo of that and put it on on facebook but photos of damaged houses feels too voyeuristic and disrespectful.

We walked for a long time before we found an open coffee shop and decided that if businesses were working that hard to stay open the least we could do was support them. So we also went out for dinner and have decided to spend as many of our tourist dollars here as possible.

Between earthquakes and volcano ash, you do begin to wonder how much more this city, these people have to take.

C'mon Mother Nature, give them a break.