Kaikoura

Kaikoura Peninsula—High Tide After the Earthquake

February 6, 2017 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

On our second trip to Kaikoura after the earthquake, the second Sunday of January, we went to the Peninsula to see what it looked like at high tide.

Here is the same spot at high tide several years ago:

We saw this on the way to church. The earthquake caused the side of the road to slump down.

After leaving Kaikoura, as we started driving along the coast we saw this fresh slip, with the digger just starting to clean it up. We got through—but the road closed early that night. (Part of the highway to the south of Kaikoura, the part that was damaged the worst by the quake, is closed every night from 8pm till 6am the next morning.)

This spot looks like an entire section of a hill dropped down, creating a new gully.

The Oaro overbridge—the bridge with which the highway crosses over the railroad—suffered a lot of damage in the quake. We stopped to have a close look.

At both ends of the bridge, the road dropped about a meter. Apparently, the gravel used for fill under the ends jiggled away during the earthquake. Most of the bridges around dropped at both ends, but most only a few inches. This, of course, is unusable; you have to detour around this spot.

New Look at the Kaikoura Peninsula—Low Tide

January 22, 2017 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

During the earthquake, the seafloor rose from one to two meters above the former level. This has dramatically changed some parts of the coastline; in Kaikoura, high tide now is approximately where low tide was before the quake! There are rocks visible now that no one knew about before. We went to the Peninsula last Sunday afternoon, around low tide, to see how different it was. This is how it looked just above low tide in 2010, and up until the earthquake:

This is taken from approximately the same place, now, at about the same stage of the tide:

We walked out to the distant rocks, which we were never able to reach before; there was a channel deep enough to snorkel through even at low tide before the quake. Out there, we discovered a colony of baby seals flopping around on the rocks, making a lot of noise. We saw a few of the mothers come in to feed their babies after several days fishing out at sea. It was just amazing to get to see all that—and then, when we returned to the van at the carpark, we got to see a pod of dolphins jumping offshore. I took several videos of what we were treated to, and Esther helped me put them together, so you can enjoy a tiny glimpse, too.

Here are several more pictures of the Peninsula at sea level:

Most of the family also climbed to the top of the Peninsula; I stayed in the van with the two littlest ones. Here are some pictures Esther took from up there; the first is from several years ago, and the second is the same place now.

The Road to Kaikoura on New Year’s Day

January 18, 2017 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

We had not been to church in Kaikoura since the earthquake, on November 14, so it was an exciting day when we were finally able to go on New Year’s Day. Unfortunately, I had a severe migraine, so had to stay home, but the rest of the family went. Esther took my camera and got a lot of pictures of the condition of the road. It’s much better than it was immediately after the quake! There has been an enormous amount of work done already. Compared to what it used to be, though, the roads are pretty rough. I couldn’t believe the way the guardrails were twisted. In this first picture, though you can’t see it very well, a bridge on the main highway is completely gone. Traffic has been rerouted around a narrow back road.

See the new hill crossing the tracks and the road?

Many hillsides slid away.

Because the seafloor rose, low tide is much lower than it used to be.

Obviously, this bridge is not safe to drive on!

First Trip to Kaikoura Since the Earthquake

January 7, 2017 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

It’s already been three weeks since Mr. Inventor went to Kaikoura with a couple of men from Cheviot. They took a load of food that had been donated. At that time, the only way into Kaikoura was the Inland Route from Waiau, and you could only go in convoy. A convoy departed from Waiau at 8:00 am to go to Kaikoura, and another left Kaikoura at 3:00 pm to go back. You had to sign up online a day or two ahead, and then wait for a text message late the evening before going, to confirm that the road would be open in the morning. Only a few days later, all restrictions on that road ended and it was open for two-way traffic. A week after Mr. Inventor’s trip, Highway One, the coastal route, was opened for daytime traffic. These pictures are from Mr. Inventor’s trip on the 15th of December, on the Inland Road in convoy.

There were a lot of spectacular slips into the Conway River.

Unloading the food in Kaikoura.

A Navy ship was anchored offshore in Kaikoura.

The banks of Lyell Creek sank; apparently all houses along it have been red-stickered, meaning they are not to be used. Thankfully, our friend who lives along this lane is just far enough away that her house is fine.

Lots of twisted guard rails.

Cracks across the hillside.

The convoy forming to leave Kaikoura in the afternoon. Mr. Inventor rode in the truck at the back of the line.

It’s hard to tell from the picture, but the bridge on the left is twisted one direction at one end and the other direction at the other end. The bridge to the right is a new one built since the quake to allow traffic to go through.

This is a bridge just south of Kaikoura. Again, it’s hard to tell in the picture, but the road drops six or eight inches coming off the bridge.

Another view of the twisted bridge with a temporary bridge beside it.

Kaikoura Before the Quake

December 2, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

It’s almost unreal to think that we were in Kaikoura the day before the 7.8 earthquake of November 14, but it’s true. Everything was normal; we spent most of the day at church, then went across the street and over the bridge over Lyell Creek, then sat on the rocky beach for awhile. The boys had fun stacking rocks; Mr. Intellectual built several of these structures and then demolished them. Apparently, the seafloor rose about 2 meters here. They say that rocks are visible now that had never been seen before, and high tide now looks like low tide before! It will sure be interesting to see it when we can get back up there, but that will be a long time. The most optimistic estimate I’ve seen for opening the highway is six months from now.

We enjoyed watching birds—this gull and the shags who were hanging out in the creek.

Early November 2016 Pictures

November 30, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

In this picture, there are 38 baby turkeys, 3 chicks and 1 duckling. All were hatched by their mothers, but we took them away to raise by hand, for the babies’ own safety.

Grandma and Little Miss admiring the nine chicks hatched a few weeks ago, which are being raised by their mother.

The little ones caught 20 snails after church and were playing with them.

Drilling a new well in a better location than the first one.

An aunt gave Little Miss a couple of nightgowns. She loves her “pretty dress”.

Gore Bay and Kaikoura

November 25, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

The Saturday that Gayle’s aunt and uncle were here, he took them and our children, and a couple of other visitors, out to Gore Bay. I stayed home to work on food for the weekend, so these are the pictures someone else took. Apparently, Little Miss has gotten past her fear of the sea!

They walked around to Port Robinson, and found some unusual things. This was a dead octopus they found washed up.

A live sea urchin!

Two elephant slugs.

Including our family, we had 25 people on Sunday and Monday morning! This was when we had the conference at which Gayle’s uncle spoke. I took this picture Sunday morning just before breakfast.

On our way to church, we stopped at a place from which you can see the Kaikoura Peninsula and the coast for a long ways around. We were treated to a closeup look at this bellbird, who was helping himself to nectar from this kowhai tree.

After church, some of the party walked over the Kaikoura Peninsula. I went home to cook tea, but my photographer stayed to walk!

That was a really good weekend. It was a lot of work to feed so many people, but so worth while.

Kaikoura, Including a Plane Ride

November 13, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

The Sunday after the funeral, we went to Kaikoura for church as usual, and took the two aunts (one of my sisters and one of Gayle’s) along. Both babies at church fell asleep during the afternoon meeting!

After we left church, we took our sisters to the Aquarium. The little ones loved the touch tank.

The Aquarium is in a building on the New Wharf. When we came out, there was a fishing boat tying up to the wharf, and we watched it unloading. Then, it went out into the bay to anchor for the night.

We went out to the Peninsula, where my sister let Mr. Imagination take some pictures. We saw seals, ducks, and seagulls.

We climbed the steep path to the top of the Peninsula. The tide was high that afternoon, and the colors were amazing. This picture doesn’t even come close to doing the beauty justice!

I was amused, when we came back down and Gayle was bringing the van to where we were, to see these seagulls catching a ride!

A friend at church paid for a plane ride for our sisters, and there was room in the small plane for Esther and Mr. Diligence to go, too. They had amazing views of the mountains and the Peninsula.

Snow!

August 30, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

We got a little bit of snow this August. It wasn’t much; here at our house we had a tiny skiff one morning. Can you see the snow falling in this picture?

The little boys scraped up the snow that slid down the greenhouse and made a little snowman on a sled, but I don’t know if anyone got a picture of it. They were excited about the snow, even if there wasn’t much. The next morning when we went to church, the hills and mountains were gorgeous! We left early in case the road was slick, and kept four-wheel drive on till we got through the dangerous hills.

Because we left for church early, and didn’t have any trouble, we had an extra 15 minutes before time for church to start, so we went out the the Peninsula. We hadn’t been out there in a long time, and it was fun to see the rocks, seals, and waves again.