Coffee in Christchurch

The calm, sunny day just added to the feeling of disquiet I felt as we drove through Christchurch. The collapsed and collapsing buildings didn't affect me as much as the undulating surface under-wheel - it felt very strange, feeling the lumps and hollows in the roads and streets of the central city and those of Sydenham, where we stopped for coffee. I took two photos only and will post those when I get home. There were a lot of other rubber-neckers, mostly on foot and all shamelessly marveling at the damage. I was more discrete. Things would look different I know, on a wet and grey day and the atmosphere of curiosity that hung about the city this morning would be replaced by dismay, I imagine. It's fanciful I suppose, but there seemed to be hordes of people leaving the city by car as came into the region last night and as we left this morning.

Still, we are leaving all that behind as we drive south. We are lunching in Methven, where we are being hosted by an up-and-coming team of women establishing an organic food co-operative in the town. Later in the day, we'll be in Dunedin and then, if we have the energy and the will, we'll carry on to Riverton.