Everyone was in the house on the 23rd, getting ready for guests who Eric and Sue had invited over for a Christmas supper when, bang bang bang, a 6.0 earthquake happened whose epicenter was TWO blocks away from Eric and Sue's house. Just a few broken wine glasses and a tea pot bit the biscuit, and the swimming pool sloshed a bit. Mom and I stayed outside with the kids through the next few aftershocks while the rest of the crew cleaned up the mess. Our caravan was totally unharmed as we have virtually nothing breakable in it anyway. On with the dinner party. We moved the tables outside as evacuating a house full would be a challenge should another bump hit, and we had our party in the sunshine. Very picturesque.
We spent until the 28th in Christchurch, riding our bikes, Marc and I took a drive out to see castle hill near Arthur's pass. The area is filled with green rolling hills that have magnificent limestone monoliths sticking out of them. Pretty impressive. The whole family took a day hike out to washpen falls. Ira, almost 4 years old, walked the whole 4 hour route before finally crashing at the end. We all did, but of course it was most impressive that a 4 year old did it. Beautiful scenery all around. Mom, Dad Marc and I stopped in at lake Coleridge, a beautiful teal blue lake surrounded by mountains. It's used to produce hydro electricity. Marc and I dragged out the fishing rods and caught absolutely nothing, but the views were just spectacular.
On the 28th, we all packed up and headed off for Nelson, at the top of the North island. Known as the sunshine coast, Nelson had just come out of some pretty devastating rain when we arrived. Roads had been washed out, some people had lost their homes due to flooding etc. We arrived in sunshine, and would enjoy it for almost a full 24 hours before the rains hit again. Luckily, there are lots of museums, wineries and breweries in town (this is the hops and grape capital of NZ). So no worries, we kept ourselves occupied. With new years, a jazz festival, the World of Wearable arts museums etc, we were well entertained. Eric, Sue, Mom Dad and the kids headed back to Christchurch today and Marc and I headed out for a nice long day hike on a gloriously sunny day. Hopefully the rains have gone for the next little while.
Tomorrow, up to near the hippy town of Takaka!
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