Shake Rattle and Roll

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I have always been pretty clear that this blog is for my entertainment and not yours.  Since I am not sure that anyone else even reads it I doubt that this is much of a problem.

As well as giving me something to do, and a forum for an occasional rant, it also serves as a sort of diary and I am ashamed to say I sometimes re-read bits to remind me of adventures past.

I am in New Zealand, leading a small Bike Adventures group, but had no plans to blog the journey as I have done it several times before.  However, last night the earth moved for me!

I was fast asleep when an earthquake measuring 7.5 struck from just off the North East coast of South Island.  This is some 200 miles from where I was sleeping but the motel shook sufficiently violently that I feard the ceiling might collape.  If you have ever tried looking for your pants on a trampoline in the pitch black you will have no problem visualising my evacuation into the safety of the car park.  What it must have been like for the poor bastards in Christchurch is hard to imagine.

The quake was actually considerably stronger than the one that levelled much of Christchurch in 2011 but, because  it was a little offshore, the damage has been relatively light:  a small number of collapsed buildings, some fissures in roads you could lose a horse down...... and quite a lot if soiled underwear.

Assuming they get the ferry running again we will be in Picton on Thursday evening for a closer look.


Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

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