Arriving in New Zealand.

We arrived in Christchurch on Thursday 11th, an uneventful flight until we stepped off the plane in temperatures of 11c.
Quite a difference from the Ozzie temps of around 30c!
These are shockingly low for this time of year but didn't dissapoint us as we were mainly looking forward to seeing Tim and Shanti. After being introduced to Shanti we all walked along the river avon. We walked past hundreds of devastated houses and empty areas where houses had been demolished, all the result of the 2011 earthquake. Most of the surviving houses where vacant awaiting demolition. The following day as we drove around the outskirts of the city we were confronted by thousands more devastated homes and traffic cones blocking damaged roads or isolating and protecting areas where the rebuild was taking place. We were not seeing this once attractive city at its best. As we went walking that afternoon Tim explained the effects of the quake on the city, but the best account was from Allison, Shanti's mum who described how she had been in the swimming baths during the quake. Apparently people were knocked to the floor,  the pool cracked when a wave formed in it, people had to leave their belongings in buildings as they broke apart. Car and house keys were left behind making it difficult for some to return home. The city is not expected to return to its former glory for many years. In the early hours of Saturday morning I was woken by the sensation of a moving 'force' as if someone was shifting the bed side to side. The following morning Barb reported that she hadn't experienced this so I put it down to a dream caused by all of the earhquake stories. That was until Tim told us later that there had been a quake measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale!
Later that morning we had a lovely breakfast for Shanti's birthday and after Allison joined us we went on a river and coastal walk. Tomorrow we head to the beautiful Queenstown