On the last day of summer school I managed to complete course approval (about four steps to confirm degree, papers and get a student ID) and find a great flat in Maia (on the way to Port Chalmers) and then I headed back to Christchurch on the Friday to sort out and pack up my stuff that I’d left at Mum and Dad’s house. We arranged to hire a big cargo van to move my furniture and Dad was going to drive it down and help me with everything on Wednesday.
On Tuesday just after lunch he took my car down to the local garage for a WOF and I was home alone when another major earthquake struck.I was actually sitting on the floor writing a text to Sus (which never got sent in the end) and I just rolled around and tried to stay in the doorway where nothing would fall on me. I didn’t think it felt any worse than the first big one in September 2010 but there was much more damage – everything in the fridge, the walk-in pantry and my cocktail cabinet fell off the shelves and onto the floor, and everything in the garage and Dad’s workshop fell over (which is a lot of stuff!). All the tall furniture in my room fell over and the big fancy ceiling mouldings that Dad had put up in the living and dining areas broke and fell down. In many of the rooms cupboards flew open and contents spewed out. The pantry floor was knee-deep in jars and bottles, and there was broken glass mixed with chilli sauce, soy sauce, food colouring and stewed fruit. So much for my preserving jar storage system!
The power and water were off immediately, but I managed to clean up stuff that had spilt on the carpet and shoved all the unbroken stuff back in the fridge, and threw a broken bottle of O’Mara’s outside. Dad came home and did some other cleaning and tidying. We were trying to find out about Mum, but the phone was out and the mobile network was busy. Some of the neighbours’ roofs looked pretty badly damaged, but the area is a new subdivision so all the houses were still standing. We thought our roof was ok until later on we saw that tiles in two areas at the back had broken and slipped, so Dad got up there and replaced them so the rain that night wouldn’t come in. He also dug a hole down the back and built an outhouse around it – after the last earthquake we knew that the water/sewage might not be operational again for days.
Dad went to find Mum and dropped me off at the garage to collect my car (which hadn’t had time to even be looked at for the WOF) but when I got home she was already there, she’d caught a taxi home. We decided to go ahead with the move, seeing as we had the van booked and I needed to be in Dunedin for preliminary lectures on Friday. So she cleaned up the pantry using the neighbour’s paddling pool water, and I carried on packing.
We had sandwiches and icecream for tea, and it was a long cold night – it was raining, no power, and we kept getting woken up by aftershocks. My kitties had both run away so they were outside somewhere in the rain.
The next day it took us a long time to finish packing and get everything loaded, and we didn’t end up leaving home until 4pm. I had to leave the kitties behind because they hadn’t turned up, so I set up the scratching post and their blankets etc. in my old room for them. I only had 1/4 tank of diesel (I’d been planning to fill up the previous afternoon) and I wasn’t sure where I could get more. It was a slow trip out of town and all the stations were either closed, run out of fuel, or had huge queues which would have held us up more. I had enough to get to Ashburton but I’d heard there were a lot of people leaving town and getting fuel on the way, so I was a bit worried. In the end the BP at Rolleston had diesel but no petrol, so there weren’t any queues which was great. I could also get some water to drink as I’d finished all three of my drink bottles since the earthquake.
We arrived late at Dunedin and I just grabbed some couch cushions and my sleeping bag for the night, and Mum and Dad took my car to stay with someone in Mornington then came back the next day to help unload. It was so nice to be able to use the shower and toilet again, even though I’d only been without for one day, and Mum and Dad would probably be going home to no water again.
Now I’ve unpacked everything and settled in, and it’s the first day of uni. More on that next time!
My bedroom. The bed moved about an inch but the desk was the only other thing that didn't fall over.
The pantry floor. In the doorway everything was smashed and oozing out.
Garage. Most of this stuff was either on the workbench or leaning against it. The entire garage and workshop looked like this, and Dad was only just getting it sorted out after the last one :(
The outhouse Dad built in the back corner of the section (behind the beehive!)
Wow – didn’t know you had to leave the kitties behind, that must’ve been so hard 🙁 Have they turned up now?
So gutting about everything being chucked around – especially the garage, that looks terrible. Love the outhouse lol
But yay for starting uni, I’m so excited for you 😀
Yes Meka was there when Mum and Dad got back and they’ve also seen Comet since then, so they’re both fine. They rush outside with each aftershock though so Dad says he hasn’t really seen them very much. They let Meka sleep on their bed that first night but I don’t think she was there for long before she scarpered.