Things That Will Kill You in New Zealand
Since we have been back in Lyttleton, we've had a few small tremors (3-ish on the Richter scale) and a larger jolt (4-ish) and I'm glad our house is timber and that the chimneys were taken down after the two big Christchurch earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. We live on a hill and there are some large rocks above us, but there are also large trees and buildings in between us and those rocks, so having those rocks come tumbling down in an earthquake is less of a worry than in some other places. A 7.8 earthquake in Kaikoura in 2016 caused massive landslips that closed Highway 1 (Yes the major road connecting New Zealand's north to its south) for over a year, so being protected from slips and rockfalls is a something you have to consider.
At least being on a hill there is less risk of tsunami. In 1868, a tsunami drained Lyttelton Harbour and then ran up 3 metres above sea level, causing damage to wharves, jetties and boats, inundating paddocks and drowning sheep. It was due to an 8.5-9.0 earthquake that happened in what was then Peru. Our house is about 40 metres above sea level, which puts us at low risk of tsunami damage, unless we are down at the pub on London Street, though even there it would have to be massive.
The risk of natural disaster colours any trip we make in New Zealand these days. We are just back from Otago, where we spent a couple of nights in Oamaru and went on to Dunedin (blog posts to come). Oamaru is a town that prides itself on its Victorian buildings, made from stone quarried nearby. We know a lot of them have been earthquake-strengthened, but there seems to be a lot of vacant buildings. You have to wonder if those ones would come down in the kind of the earthquake Christchurch and Kaikoura have had recently.
As for tsunami risk, much of Oamaru is close to sea level, as is Dunedin (which also has a lot of very old buildings). But there were no earthquakes or tsunamis when I was away. I body boarded a couple of times and there were no sharks to be seen (I didn’t stay in the water that long as it was freezing). We didn't get anywhere near deadly tree nettles. The weather was ugly, but not life-threatening and for once we drove without seeing any crazy New Zealand driver behaviour.
Despite a fun, non-life-threatening few days away, it was good to get home.
Ta ta for now
PS my mum reads this and is freaking out right about now… sorry Mum!
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