Goodbye Oz, hello NZ and earthquakes?

We flew to Christchurch, picked up our rental car and checked into a hotel. Christchurch had 2 major earthquakes in 2010 and 2011 that devastated the city. In fact 82% of the buildings in the CBD have or are scheduled to be demolished. We decided to take a drive around and check the city out. Super depressing. While obviously cleaned up 5 years later, you still see many empty lots and large buildings barricaded or marked for demolition. There is an energy there though, artists have graffitied many walls or placed cool, colorful sculptures in abandoned lots. A makeshift mall has been put together from shipping containers.

Went back home and walked to an Irish pub for an excellent meat pie. Back in the room we're playing cards and all of a sudden the entire building starts to shake. I look at Tom in disbelief as if I was imagining this. Turns out we experienced a 4.7 magnitude earthquake. It was so weird, the floors and walls were like rubber. Welcome to New Zealand.Read more