Earthquake!

---

Pete dropped me off at the airport in the afternoon and after a quick one hour flight I was down in Christchurch. If flying in this part of the world I highly recommend Air New Zealand. They are fantastic! They often have cheap deals with their grabaseat website.

I hopped on a shuttle to the Old Countryhouse where I used to work. Unfortunately the owners Andy and Gerti were in Germany and I would miss seeing them. There were a few small differences but mainly it was the same as I left it. Only a little bit of visual damage in a few spots from the earthquakes. Many of the double rooms have been converted to dorms to accommodate more backpackers as many of the hostels in the city center were destroyed.

I had a quick walk around of the area and noticed a lot of buildings were gone. The place I used to buy fruit and veg was completely gone. Makes me sad. I made some dinner and then settled in to watch the rugby.

Quite a few of the games had been scheduled to be played in Christchurch but after the earthquakes damaged the stadium the games were moved. The game this evening; the all blacks versus Argentina was scheduled to be played in Christchurch.

Not long after the game started I was sitting in the lounge room with a few other people when the whole house started shaking. You could see the walls actually moving and my feet on the ground were moving back and forth. It was a pretty strong shake and lasted about 30 seconds.

It was my first earthquake and it was a bit scary after knowing how much damage they can cause. But it was a reminder of why the games had to be moved from Christchurch sadly.

I went online after the game and read that it was a 5.5 quake and that it was the biggest they’ve had since June! No damage was reported though thank god. While I was in bed I felt two separate very small tremors.

---