One Month On

We have been having wonderful spring weather lately. On Sunday I had a couple of shops I wanted to visit in town, so I took the opportunity in the same trip to walk around and take a good look at the earthquake damage. Although some rubble has been cleared up and buildings braced where necessary, no real start has been made on rebuilding as far as I could tell. (That makes sense, both because of the aftershocks and because, of course, insurance claims have to be processed, and engineering reports written, and building plans drawn up).

On the other hand, the city was alive with people. There was a real springtime vibe going on as people came out to shop, skateboard, stroll in the gardens, kayak on the river, and like me, take photos. It seemed that for tourists, pretty much everything was open as usual (with the possible exception of a few small restaurants, but we have plenty...)



Two young men enjoy the sun from an upstairs window of their backpackers hostel.





Shopping at the Arts Centre Market, and a damaged tower of the Arts Centre building nearby (most of it is earthquake strengthened, so fortunately not too much damage was done, just this area and one other)



The remains of the appropriately named Chaos Collectables



Pedestrians in discussion at a roadblock while Elvis looks down from a balcony



Bracing on an insecure wall at Our City O-tautahi. This is the city's original Municipal Chambers and is now used as an exhibition and meeting space, unfortunately it is currently closed due to earthquake damage.



Enjoying the Botanic Gardens - Peacock Fountain and spring flower displays.

We are still getting several aftershocks a day although most are in the 3 range and I don't often notice them. A 4.5 a few days ago was more obvious and occurred just as the radio station we tune into at work was playing Carole King's "I can Feel the Earth Move Under Your Feet". Any more suggestions for an earthquake play list?