What Remains

It's been over two months since the earthquake and I can hardly believe it. I'll be heading back to Canada in less than two months ... I hope the time doesn't fly by as fast as it has so far but in my heart I know it will. 

Earlier this month I finally made the trip to as close to downtown as you can get in Christchurch these days. The city centre is blocked off completely by fences and is patrolled 24/7 by volunteer and military personnel. Still, as you walk toward the CBD the damage is extensive - it makes you glad you can't walk straight through to the heart of it. I wandered about the sealed-off area, and just looking around made me fall completely silent; I was overwhelmed by how tangible the grief was. It hung on every dilapidated building, every fallen brick, and every crack in the road. I felt helpless; what could I do to help Christchurch? Volunteers can't get in, and there's not much left to do outside of the worst damaged areas. It's as though the city's heart has been ripped out and everyone can see the bloody hole that's left behind - you can look at it, take pictures, gawk like it's a museum display and then go home. As long as you have a home to go back to; as long as you're not terrified the earth will shake again and your walls will fall down around you.

Despite the fact that I felt no desire to pull out a camera and violate the exposed innards of my current city, I know people back home have been asking to see it. I only had the nerve to take a few.

What remains to be seen of the cathedral.

One of many destroyed churches

Hope Kiwi Pass

A few weeks ago, the University of Canterbury finally had its Clubs Days, where the school's teams, societies and clubs set up booths and convince you to join the ranks of their esteemed members. I joined the volleyball club (although they have no gym to play in post-earthquake), the Gentlemen's Club (a social club, for Bingo nights and cocktail parties), dance classes (although I have yet to attend one), but most importantly I joined the Tramping Club. Although I may have explained what tramping is in an earlier blog, let me refresh your memory: Tramping = Hiking. And no, Mum, tramping does not make you a tramp :)

Canterbury University Tramping Club (CUTC) runs trips all over the South Island every weekend. It's an amazing way to see parts of New Zealand that are only accessible by foot. CUTC's Freshers trip kickstarts the year, combining new members with past members on an overnight. Normally there would be over 100 people on the trip, but as a result of the earthquake, a lot of people pulled out of UC so there were only 50 people this year. The trip took us to Hope Kiwi Pass, which is in Lake Sumner Forest Park (100 km northwest of Christchurch). Mal and Drea both came, and we met loads of new people.

A few of the TC's members

The hike out was sunny and pleasant, although there were many wasps about and Mal got stung on her ankle, resulting in a 3-day cankle. Arriving at Hope Valley 16km later, we spent the afternoon playing sardines in the long grass. At night, we hung out with our new friends before retiring to our tents.

Playing in the long grass

Not a bad view!

Sunday wasn't quite as beautiful as Saturday, but it was still a pleasant walk back. We were greeted with a BBQ at the carpark, along with a lesson in river crossing (there are lot of drownings in NZ each year so they take river crossings very seriously). The water was frigid so I was thankful to have clothes to change into! We were bussed back to Christchurch and arrived back at Ilam around 7:00. We were exhausted, but we loved the trip and I definitely can't wait to get back out with the CUTC again soon.

Morning light hitting a different kind of tent city

Kaikoura

After the first week back at "school," Derek and I took a weekend trip to Kaikoura (about 2.5 hours north of Christchurch) to enjoy his last few days in New Zealand. Kaikoura is right on the coast and is named for its abundance of crayfish (the Maori name is Te Ahi-kai-koura-a-Tama-ki-te-rangi). The drive there on Friday was gorgeous - sunny and clear - but of course I managed to sleep for most of it, and it turned out that that would be the nicest weather we'd have all weekend. We arrived in Kaikoura around dinner and ate our fish & chips on the beach while enjoying the sunset seen above. We camped at a site that was about 20 minutes from the centre of Kaikoura, but since it was dark we had some extreme difficulty finding it. After about 45 minutes of extra driving we finally rolled into the site and set up our tent. 


On Saturday morning we explored a drizzly Kaikoura before heading out for a bit of surfing. I rented a board, but Derek had brought his from Canada. It was not my best surf, but considering the waves were fairly inconsistent and difficult to read I didn't sweat it too much. Derek had a bit more luck but it wasn't great for him either. After a few hours, we returned the board and drove back toward the campsite. On the way, we stopped to check out a fur seal population; there were easily a hundred seals hanging out on the shore just off of the highway. We did a quick walk along the Ohau Stream to a waterfall, and on the way ran into a couple of adorable seal pups. In the fall, all of the baby seals head up the stream to hang out with each other while their mummies ditch them to hunt in the sea. Pretty adorable!

My new best friends

On Sunday the weather was looking like it would potentially clear a bit, so we opted to do a hike as opposed to surfing again. We chose to hike 1600m Mt Fyffe, hoping for some beautiful views. It was gorgeous for about the first hour on the way up (and when I say up I mean UP - it was switchback central; there was not one flat section on the hike) but after that we were hiking in a cloud. When all you're doing is exhausting yourself by walking a constant upward path and getting no visual benefit, you'd think you'd stop ... but not Derek and I. Being stubborn, we wanted to hit the summit, so we continued on along our soggy trek until we made it. It was not worth it at all. 

Pretty view of Kaikoura on the early part of the hike

Getting a little cloudy ...

Still stubbornly heading up through the cloud

The descent made both of our heads spin and we were practically falling over one another by the time we reached the car 6 hours after we'd started the hike. We rewarded ourselves with dinner out at a delicious restaurant and a movie at the local theatre where they still use film reels and have an intermission during which you can buy more popcorn!


Monday morning, Derek surfed for a few hours while I played photographer. It was pretty gross when we first got to the coast but it managed to clear after a couple of hours. The surf was much better than it had been on Saturday, which made Derek a happy surfbum. After a couple of hours, we hopped in the car and drove back to Christchurch in time for my afternoon class.

Tent City

On March 14th, one of my four classes resumed. It was held in a large, white tent in a parking lot, and the class was seated on fold-out chairs. Sometimes it was impossible to hear the lecturer over the flapping of the tent, or the passing of an airplane. It was hot, uncomfortable and all-around conducive to no learning. But at least classes had started, right? Definitely the oddest back-to-school I've experienced yet.

Some of our tent classrooms

Temporary Cafe

For the classes that didn't get scheduled tent time, all lectures were online as audios or videos. There's a lot of dedication required when it's sunny outside but you know you have 4 Coastal Studies lectures to catch up on ... let's just say I'm not quite caught up as of yet. Luckily, as the weeks have gone by and more buildings have been approved for general access, more and more classes are being held in actual lecture halls. I've never appreciated a hard surface to write on more! All of my courses are back in full swing as of this week, so hopefully the semester continues smoothly.