Awesome Awaroa

Godley Head is the headland located between Christchurch and its port at Lyttleton. It was originally named Awaroa by the Maori, meaning "Long River," but it was renamed Godley Head in 1900 after Englishman John Robert Godley, the founder of the Christchurch settlement. Rocky volcanic cliffs and brown rolling grassland give the ancient (10 million year old) volcano its beauty. It's a recreational playground crisscrossed with mountain biking tracks, walking trails, and picnic areas. During World War II, extensive armaments were constructed around the headland to ward off German submarines. Soldiers excavated a 110-metre tunnel to the beach adjacent to the harbour mouth, and we spent Sunday afternoon on an adventure through the tunnel.

I really hoped we didn't have an earthquake while in the tunnel! Happily, I didn't see any signs of loose or unstable rocks. Andesitic porphyries, ancient soil horizons, waves crashing on boulders, and jumping Hector's dolphins greeted us on the other side. We had a wonderful picnic lunch admiring the rocks and wildlife and then spent a while exploring the old fortifications.

Anna's attire is self-designed. She has been turning all sorts of fabric scraps and scarves into skirts and dresses. Her creativity is refreshing, but sometimes the safety pins slip, exposing underwear and other parts. I laugh and encourage her to think a bit more about design :-) The above picture illustrates her Australia scarf-turned-skirt. Except the skirt is only 1-sided! At the sandy beach afterwards, we were fully clothed! With a water temperature of 60F and an air temperature of 70F, our beach swim required wetsuits. I kind of remember those warm Florida beaches and burning hot sand, but it seems like another lifetime....

Summer Again!

Christmas in Cromwell came replete with a giant parcel from America. With the sun shining and mountains of presents from home, I started the morning by laying out a treasure hunt all over the house and garden. A clue linked each pile of presents, and Anna had to use her nature skills to navigate to the next stash. A self confessed "sleep-later," Anna had to be woken up at 9am to get the party started. I loved that each present smelled like home and had shiny American wrapping paper.

Back in Christchurch for New Year's, I was elated to get back to enjoying a snowflake-free summer. We had a nice BBQ with friends Bronwyn, Ben and Olivia followed by 3 days of mountain biking bliss. Our city has amazing single track trails weaving through our pine plantations. I cannot resist putting in a picture of my new bike jewelry, a Hope hydraulic disc brake with braided hose and floating rotor, CNC made in England:

Maybe you won't marvel at my brake as much as I do, but our night at the beach was marvelous! After sweltering in 89.5F heat all day (how can I say that? I grew up in Florida!), we went to Corsair Bay for a late evening swim. The lighting was fantastic, and the beach was still crowded with revelers. Sand castles, sand rivers, seashells, volcanic rocks and tranquil saltwater all mingled to make it a memorable family event.

Sure enough, a cold southerly blew through the following day and I am now staring at wet gray skies. But for a moment, the air was warm and still and we played until sunset.

My Singular Hummingbird

Last summer in State College, I was sublimely happy and totally in love with my... bicycle. When I arrived, the guys at Freeze Thaw Cycles (http://www.freezethaw.com/) made me a bike out of spare parts in their garage and loaned it to me for the duration of my stay. It was such a sweet bike, with a 29inch wheel on the front and a 26inch wheel on the back. Everywhere I went, people said "nice bike." I know they meant that sincerely, as it was truly bespoke, rode smoothly, and really had that wow factor (please detect a minutely small bit of sarcasm). Ever since returning to NZ, I have longed to ride my bike again and capture that feeling of freedom and originality.

Through the winter, swine flu, pneumonia, almost 3000 earthquakes, Anna starting school and spring, I have tried to rebuild my bicycle.With the help of Allan Eng, Sam at Singular Cycles in the UK, countless hours on TradeMe, the guys at Basic Bikes in Sydenham (who I only wish were as friendly and cool as their American counterparts), James, and my Mom, I have at last finished building my Singular Hummingbird (http://www.singularcycles.com/hummingbird.html). It's a boutique bike and one of only 3 in New Zealand- perhaps because of the great lengths it took to get it here from the UK, or perhaps because only unique people want to ride these bikes. When I peddle down the street, I can now imagine myself to simpler times and the people, culture, and forests that I love. Yes, a great act of consumerism did wonders for my American soul. But it's not really about the bike; it's about all the people and places along the way.

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.