Canterbury Anniversary 2010

Lake Tennyson is like a poem, a poem in shades of blue and brown with words that sound like a light breeze blowing through tussock. This place, one hour by car from the nearest town on a gravel road to nowhere, is stunningly beautiful and was our destination on Canterbury Anniversary weekend. We got there early in the morning and climbed up a wee landslide fan to admire the views. Anna met some other children, learned the names of some subalpine plants and got a great understanding of what it means to be in "the country."

Nevertheless, she was quite happy to go back to our campground in Hanmer Springs, put on her togs, and head to the hotpools. Hanmer Springs is perhaps the #1 holiday destination for people in Christchurch because it is home to miles of mountain biking tracks, hiking trails, and a thermal resort. Hot water bubbles up along the Hope Fault in Hanmer Springs, and enterprising Ngai Tahu have turned the hot water into a thermal resort with pools of all temperatures, including a large waterslide/kids play area.

I'm not really one to sit around all day in hot water (although I can get myself into it), so after a while we put our hiking shoes back on and went to a waterfall before dinner. I love these long summer days! I also love being able to take the dog hiking because it's not a National Park.

The next day, Anna made some friends at the campground and spent the morning playing hide and seek and all sorts of games while James and I packed up the car. We hiked to Mt Isobel, which had a great ridge walk and commanding views of the St James Range and Hope River valley.


Belle loved being up in the mountains and chasing hares. At one point, we thought we'd never see her again. She found a very fast hare and chased it clear across the mountain, over some rocks and into the trees. All we could here was the rabbit chasing sounds (yip yip yip) punctuated by yelps when she ploughed into sharp Spaniards or prickly Matagouri. Eventually she did come back completely knackered. Happy from our adventures together, we piled in the car for the trip back to the city. I can't wait for another long sunny weekend!

Labour Weekend 2010

A very brief post before I go bush for 10 days in Fiordland! We had a great Labour Weekend with a "u" in October. We went with the Laverys Bronwyn, Ben and Olivia to Governor's Bay on Banks Peninsula. There, we feasted on fresh squeezed juice and homemade chocolates at She Cafe. Afterwards, we spend an enjoyable afternoon looking in tide pools and finding crabs under vesicular volcanic rocks. Adults and children alike were fascinated by the sea life! There was a great playground, too, where we spent at least an hour playing ogres, knights, and princesses. Really, it was the sort of day that you think childhood is all about. I'd totally agree. Idyllic.

Getting_on_with_it

I've said this for years, but I've never written it down. In America, when things aren't going the "right way," we love to talk/think/try to change them. There's a little Revolution in all of us. However this is NOT the right way to approach situations in New Zealand. Instead, Kiwis just "get on with it" (direct quote).

M7.1 Earthquake leave your house in two pieces, a chimney through your roof and over 800 aftershocks? Just get on with it.
Widespread liquefaction leave your house and property under piles and piles of sand? Grab and shovel and get on with it.
Six days of blizzard at the equinox kill over a million lambs? Pull as many as you can from the mud and snowdrifts, and get on with it.
Record snowfall collapse the roof of Stadium Southland? Get the building code, bulldoze stadium and get on with it.
Two weeks of high winds knock out power to thousands in the North Island? Ring your power company, get out the candles and gas BBQ and get on with it.

Since 4 September, these have been the events dominating our headlines. And honest to goodness, everyone interviewed on TV and radio has displayed this tremendously staunch attitude. I think Kiwis are used to adversity and have this amazingly resilient response to disaster. We are stuck in the middle of the Southern Ocean and no one else is going to help us! In fact, the French military actually bombed our ship in 1985, but that's another story.

But the Boulton family story is a better one. Canterbury was spared the wild spring weather, and all those aftershocks just make our house into a seaworthy ship on land-like-water. We celebrated the Equinox in style by going to a new beach at the Rakaia River mouth 35 minutes South of the city. It was a beautiful still spring day and Anna and I loved being nature fairies and finding treasures to hide in old driftwood.

The views to the North of Banks Peninsula:

and to the South of the Rakaia River and Pacific Ocean:

were stunning and the walk was just the right length for Anna. It's such a cute wee town, that I can't wait to go back there camping later this summer.

We also had a nice trip to the Farmer's Market yesterday, where we saw our first ducklings! Anna devoured a chocolate croissant (her favourite) and James and I enjoyed some local kombucha. Seriously, the guy who makes it is slightly bonkers, but it tastes delicious and is so much better for me than coffee.

After the market, Anna played on our new trampoline while I planted raspberries, strawberries, and peas. I am so happy it's spring, Anna has two weeks of school holidays, James is assured a job after Christmas, and our house has more bounce.

M7.1 Darfield Earthquake

Did I mention violent gloaming? Well, maybe the Earth misheard and decided to unleash some violent moaning. On Saturday morning at 4.35am, Christchurch was blasted by a M5.4 foreshock followed by a M7.1 mainshock occurring on a previously unmapped and unknown fault. The epicentre was about 30km West of our house at a depth of 10km. The earthquake generated the highest peak ground acceleration (1.25g) ever recorded in New Zealand; peak accelerations where we lived were at least 0.25g- that's about 2.4 m/s.

I knew that because the first arriving P-wave wasn't big enough to throw us out of bed, our house would be ok. I researched the effects of previous earthquakes on Christchurch, looked at liquefaction maps of the city, and studied the subsurface geology before we bought our house. We chose to live in the suburb on the highest "flat" ground, and almost all of the houses in our area are undamaged. We regained electricity in 5 hours and have had no water or sewage problems.

So, knowing our house wouldn't fall down when those first P-waves arrived was a big relief, and we just stayed in bed. The surface waves and S-waves generate a violent rocking and rolling and twisting motion because they travel in 2 directions orthogonal to each other. These waves made our walls shake all around and it felt like we were caught in a washing machine. All the doors and windows shook, plates and cups rattled in the kitchen, and my coffee percolator fell and smashed into a million pieces, but the dog didn't make a sound, and Anna never woke up. The shaking lasted a long time, quietly dying away. Since then we have had over 90 aftershocks, many of them stronger than M5.

Estimates are now that as many as 3 in 5 houses in Christchurch need major repairs or demolition, but we are fortunate to live where we do. A lot of people are suffering from trauma and still live without power or water or roofs over their heads. Trauma occurs when the unexpected happens, especially when it happens suddenly. I think about earthquakes every day; I study their effects. We have always thought about what would happen to our house in an earthquake. That's why we removed the central brick chimney 2 years ago and replaced it with a structural timber beam. Timber houses shake, but they usually do not fall down.

Schools are closed for the week, so while other geologists are eagerly mapping the new fault and deploying seismometers to detect aftershocks, I am at home taking care of Anna. We organized her crafts today and made some new Shrinky Dink bracelets, thankful to carry on as normal. I suppose I would be even more jealous of the other geologists out mapping and gaping if I didn't have pneumonia. Happily, I had enough energy yesterday morning to see the rupture trace near Darfield. Here are some photos of the fault.






Thanks so much to everyone who has sent best wishes and said prayers; we are so thankful not to have been greatly affected by this dramatic event.

First Day of School

In New Zealand, children start school on their 5th birthday. While school is super exciting, I think the privilege of wearing a uniform like the big kids is the biggest draw. Anna could not wait to model her school duds for the camera.

Anna's school is a very short walk from our house; even so, the foggy winter morning froze us solid by the time we arrived. I loved her new teacher, and the classroom was vibrant with letters, pictures, a winter learning tree, colourful murals. With only 12 children in the class, too, Anna had heaps of individual attention. All the girls were so happy to show her where to put her things and she even got invited on a play date her first day! Here's hoping the NZ education system does a great job with our little girl.

In closing, I would like to acknowledge the awesome job James did with Anna when I was away. I don't really care how messy the house was. Anna is so happy and has such a great relationship with James that things are even better than before I left. In fact, Anna seems to be smarter and healthier too. That's so awesome. Thanks James for being a great father and house-Dad. You rock.

Port Town

Even today, getting to New Zealand is no easy business. Back before GPS and accurate clocks, it was even harder. One of the greatest scientific problems of the 17th century was determining a ship's longitude (that's how far East or West of the Prime Meridian a ship is located). This made for serious sailing issues! Following Galileo, ship captains used the moon and stars to determine position for most of the 1600s, but this method is unreliable.

Finally, in 1730, British Clockmaker John Harrison built the first precise marine clock. By knowing the difference between local time and Greenwich Mean Time, captains could finally know with great accuracy their longitude. Longitude at a point may be determined because there are 24 hours in a day and 360 degrees in a circle, so the sun moves across the sky at a rate of 15 degrees per hour (360°/24 hours = 15° per hour).

Which brings us to this fair island. Without a copy of a John Harrison clock, Captain James Cook probably would not have mapped Neuseeland in 1770. Without a map in hand, the English settlers would not have sailed on The First Four Ships to settle Christchurch in 1850. The first colonists arrived in Port Lyttelton:

scaled the Port Hills and started clearing swampland to establish this city. For the next 100 years, New Zealand colonists relied heavily on importing goods from and exporting goods to England. Ships sailed in and out of Port Lyttelton. How did they know the time? With a timeball, of course! On a cold grey winter Sunday, we played captains, sailors, and pirates. We visited the timeball, a castle like place high on a hill above the port:

The ball on the mast has dropped every day at exactly 1pm since 1876 to tell mariners the true time (it should make you think of New Year's Eve on Times Square).

We also had a treasure hunt at Corsair Bay. Anna drew a very cool treasure map and James hid the treasure while we played on the wooden pirate ship. Anna didn't want a mutiny; we were mateys and we shared the captaincy. I love the fact that Anna's honing her map skills and having fun at the same time.


Ships sailed, treasure found, time clocks calibrated, it was at last time to go home and have hot curries for dinner:-)

Anna Turns Five

I spent seven weeks in State College; when I got home, I found a beautiful, funny, confident, capable and courageous five-year-old. In my absence (or maybe because I grew fonder), Anna perfected taking care of herself, telling funny jokes, and entertaining herself for hours with creative play. Sure the house was a mess, but when I cleaned, I found hidden "I love Mummy" cards and letters everywhere.

To top off the hugs and letters, Anna turned five on Tuesday. We had cupcakes at Kindercare and the party was so cute. In fact, the party was hilarious. Between Anna and her sly jokes and her teachers' excellent sense of humour, I was in stitches. First, during mat time, Anna got to stand in front of the class and tell everyone about her birthday, presents, and where she's going to school next week. After the Q and A, Anna said sideways "there's a song you can sing to me."

Teacher Emma laughed and said "let's wait for the cake." Before the cake, hand washing, a Maori blessing (which Anna said by herself perfectly pronouncing 10 lines of Maori verse!!), and fruit. I asked Teacher Adele to translate the Maori words for me (Maori words are full of vowels and very pretty), so she took out the dictionary and started laughing. Not being bilingual, she translated the first line as "bless this potato peeler." We still don't know the English version, but here's Anna waiting patiently to say the blessing and eat her fruit.

Finally, fruit eaten, it was time for the birthday song. Almost. Adele got out the matches to light the 5 candle, and Teacher Holly launched into a discussion about what to do if the kids found matches on the floor. The boys suggested light a fire, but Holly eventually elicited "give the matches to an adult" from them. Adele (matches in hand) asked if the fire safety course was over yet because it really was time for the song (gotta love that British humour). Yay! The Birthday Song! Happy Birthday to You Anna!!

When Anna blew out her candle, Holly asked what she wished for. Anna said she didn't wish for anything because she had everything she wanted. To which Holly said, "not even world peace?" Ok, those teachers are hilarious. I left feeling proud and entertained and totally happy. My little girl has arrived at five fully content. She even got the chocolate icing stain off her dress herself before I left (without prompting!).