Wow, has it really been a month since our last post? Sorry about that. Time really does slip away from you! Well, I guess a lot has happened, although maybe not to us directly.
Obviously you can tell by the fact that the blog is being updated that we're fine after the earthquake. Wellington is nowhere near Christchurch so we didn't suffer any direct impacts from the quake. However the effects are being felt around the country. The NZ $ has slipped and there's lots of dooma nd gloom about whether the country will be pushed into a double dip recession on the back of this. So much of the country's wealth relies on inbound tourism, and we're not quite certain how that will be impacted right now.
They're not certain if the city's Rugby World Cup games will go ahead - just after we'd spent $400 on ferry tickets to get to the England vs Argentina game! Oh well. The priority is to get the city back on its feet as quickly as possible. But whether the infrastructure, let alone the stadium, will be in any state to host thousands of fans is another matter and a lower priority.
Wellington has had a couple of its own rumbles this week though. First on Tuesday night there was a 4.5 quake centred about 20kms away. We missed this one because we were in the car. The second was in the early hours of Friday morning. Many people were woken by it, at 4.7 the biggest for a while in this area. We, however, slept right through. Some would say we've got off lightly!
But what we have learnt is that there are lots and lots of earthquakes that are constantly taking place in the region. Apparently there were 12 "quakes" of various sizes in the Wellington area in the week prior to the Christchurch tragedy. The following week there were 10. Just of different sizes. The fact is that we rarely feel these tremors and they're just a part of life in this country.
It's all part and parcel of moving into the Pacific Ring of Fire - and no, that's not the after effects of last night's curry either!
The tables have been turned on us lately as Ian has been "going away on business" instead of Annalie! The BP team at Auckland Airport are a bit short-staffed so he was asked to cover for a few days over a few weeks. He has mostly been away during the week but the one weekend he worked, Annalie headed up there to see some more of the city.
Plan A was to go and see Sarah, a uni friend we visited on our recce/holiday. However it turned out she, too, was away for the weekend. Plan B was to go to Rangitoto Island and walk around it. Upon our arrival the weather conspired against this idea though as it was sheeting it down. So Plan C was concocted on the hoof.
Being based out at the airport didn't make it easy to come up with something but Annalie decided to explore on the bus and get to the Auckland Museum.
Now here in Wellington we have the "national" museum - Te Papa - which is excellent. Auckland kind of pales in comparison, but she still learnt a few facts. Such as Auckland is sited around 48 volcanoes, which have been dormant for around 600 years. But if those beasts decide to wake up, the city will fare worse than Christchurch did on the 22nd February.
She also learnt about the battle of ANZAC and why we have a national holiday celebrating ANZAC Day. And she was humbled but the significant casualties that NZ sustained during the first and second World Wars on our behalves, which made up a large proportion of the men available of fighting age in the country at that time.
One of the beautiful things about travelling domestically in NZ is the lack of security. It is a far cry from the rigmarole and pain you have to go through in the US. And long may it stay that way!
We've also had our first visitors and it looks like March is going to be a busy time.
First there was Marius, a friend and ex-colleague from the States. He was visiting NZ with work and planning to stay on for the weekend to visit us. Only thing was, he landed in Christchurch on the morning of the quake. Needless to say, they didn't stay very long. Still, it did mean an impromptu night out for Annalie on the Wednesday as the team passed through Wellington on their way to Auckland.
The next week, we played host to Janina and Mike. Two ex-colleagues from RR in Derby. They have both taken early retirement within the last 18 months and have taken the opportunity to spend 5 weeks in a campervan driving around NZ. They both looked very relaxed by the time they got here! :-)
And we've got two more lots of visitors planned - not that we'll spoil it for you! ;-)
