Greymouth Break

Water feature at the CCS house in Greymouth

Have just arrived back from 4 nights away in Greymouth with my D and family. We arrived to freezing cold, rain and hail! That was just the start of it as at 4 35 am we were awoken by a strong quake and being in a new house were disorientated and I couldnt find the door. Soon after my cell rang and it was my D living in Christchurch hysterical asking if we were okay as they had had a massive quake 7.1 and everything had come down. Her small daughter was thrown from her bed! They were unhurt and the house seems to be okay but with the intensity of aftershocks happening that may change they are all traumatized especially now her husband has had to return to work. They still cant shower and are boiling all water and cant flush toilets. They are still in survival mode. They are hoping to see some Porta Loos soon! The roads in their area are bad as the river is just at the end of their street, fissures and cracks in roads and ground. It was an absolute miracle that no one was killed because at 4 35 am most people were asleep. I wish they would move out but not easy with 2 dogs and 3 cats.

Here are a few pics they sent last night some are near them. The cracked road is down the end of their street and there are lots of these sand volcano's everywhere.

I am just thankful they are okay. I am off to update my survival kit!

Apart from that we had a relaxing weekend even though it rained most of the time.

We took the kids to the pools and were most impressed with them and the amount of help given for people with disabilities, even had a wheelchair that went right

down a ramp into the pool! They even turned on the hydroslide

for the kids, they had a great time. First class A1 to them.

It was nice to see the daffodils out too when I returned home a nice bit of colour in the garden