Returning to Rocking Chair City (Christchurch)

Tekapo Hot Pools

With an aim to try and meet up with Laura before I leave the South Island Monique and I set off for Christchurch stopping off at Lake Tekapo for a night along the way. Lake Tekapo was beautiful as always (I drove the entire way there woop!) and once accomodation was sorted we went ice skating down by the lake and were fortunate enough to be the only ones there! And how better to warm up from ice skating than spending some time in the hot pools?! The hot pools in Tekapo were very different to the ones in Omarama, not as cosy and a LOT less private (Guard tower standing over... kinda creepy) but you can swim around a fair amount so it was lovely!

Well duuuuh!

Sunrise at Lake Tekapo

After a spot of tennis in the morning we finally headed towards Christchurch and arrived 45 minutes after a Level 6 earthquake (one that big is powerful enough to do some real damage) If we hadn't been driving, the ground would have been veeeeery interesting to walk on. Lucky we played tennis really! We met up with Laura and her friends before going for a drive around the city to check out the damage, the roads were pretty packed with the sheer number of people leaving the city, which let me tell you when you're heading in the opposite direction TOWARDS trouble, is quite freaky. All the supermarkets were closed to deal with damaged products etc making tracking down food.... interesting. But we managed! The novelty of not being able to trust the ground beneath your feet quickly wears off and becomes damned annoying and slightly scary. The sheer lack of control over our environment really hits home!! Oh and the giant ash cloud could cause problems with my flights outa Queenstown. Isn't life just great!!

Earthquake Damage

Earthquake Damage

Closed Supermarkets, Spilt Wine, People Get Desperate...