18 November, 2016

I'm okay

 It was pointed out to me that, after hearing about the 7.8 magnitude earthquake in New Zealand on Monday, readers might be worried about me. I probably accentuated that by not particiating in Microblog Monday for the first time in ages.

So for the record, I'm fine, and thanks to those who emailed and asked. I can't say that about my house though. Not because there's a problem, but because I simply don't know. Wellington, where I live, has been affected by the earthquake, but I'm not actually there at the moment! As with the last earthquake, we left town beforehand, and we were in fact in the resort town of Queenstown in the South Island when the earthquake hit, and felt nothing. The neighbours have reported thwt all looks okay from th outside, but we don't know what damage there might be inside. We have some furniture attached to the wall as recommended for earthquake preparedness, but certainly not all of it. Our house is on stilts, so shakes a lot when there is an earthquake, as it is designed to do.

Our drive home - to the top of the North Island and then across in the ferry - will be affected though. We love driving up the Kaikoura Coast on the east, through tunnels and along the coast with rocks and seal colonies for miles, but that has been destroyed by cracks and major slips and lifts in the road, and won't be navigable for many months (I would expect). So we will be heading home through the middle of the island, over mountain passes, with an extra few hours on our drive. Minor disruptions to travel plans are nothing in the scheme of things. 

I'll probably blog about our trip later, here and on A Separate Life, but at the moment I'm just grateful for life, and family and friends (all of you included).

9 comments:

  1. Very glad you are okay. I've been behind in news, so I was just about to write to check in. That earthquake was a big one. Hoping the house is okay and that the journey home is uneventful.

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  2. You & my longtime penpal in Auckland were my first thoughts when I heard about the earthquake! Glad to hear all is well. (So far, anyway!)

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  3. So glad to hear you are safe...please let me know if there is anything I can do for you....even from across the sea.

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  4. A few hours after I sent my email, I went on FB and saw you shared something, so I'm like, "wheeeeew, she's alive." See, social media: good for something. But I am glad this popped up in my RSS feed this morning. Hope all is well with the home when you return.

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  5. I am glad you are OK. I am keeping fingers crossed for the house!

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  6. Thanks for posting. It did make the news that even Wellington was affected indeed. Such beautiful memories of traveling the South Island. Wasn't it near Kaikoura that the train goes practically on the beach? Nah, I must be confusing the coasts, traveled by bus on South Island, train was out from Wellington. Anyway, enjoy your trip and hope your home is undamaged.

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  7. Safe travels home! Glad you are safe!

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  8. So glad to hear that you are well! Fingers crossed that your house fared well too!

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  9. I'm so glad you're okay, although how scary to be away from home and not know how everything fared. I am embarrassed to say I didn't know there was an earthquake, which is crazy because that's a BIG one, and I just heard about the one in Japan. But how the New Zealand one escaped me is crazy! And I never knew that New Zealand was earthquake prone to begin with, which it must be if your house and furniture is to earthquake code. I am so glad you are okay, and I hope the trip home is uneventful if longer. How frightening!

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