By: Blonde Two
Right then so there I am planning and taking photographs for a little Blonde tour of Wellington, all is peaceful and I am feeling completely relaxed having some “alone time” – what a lovely city this is … and then … just as I am sitting down to a nice flat white coffee in a cafe on the fabulous and unusual Cuba Street, the earth starts to move.
This wan’t my first earthquake (last one in Turkey) and, like Blonde One and altitude sickness, I have been reading up a bit on the topic. These two things and the Kiwi kids information film which promotes “Drop Cover Hold” as the action to take, were probably the reason that I was first of all the customers to be on my knees under the table, clinging on hard to the legs. It is amazing how comforting a table leg can be in a crisis!
Not as comforting, however, as the lovely young lady who saw that I was upset once we had all climbed out of our hidey holes (a bit ashamed of my wimpiness) and offered me “a cuddle”. The cuddle was duly accepted and went a long way to help.
The quake measured 6.6 and went on for what seemed like a long time with mostly sideways movement. I went outside quite soon after only to look up and remember that I was in a really old part of town with lots of stone facades up above me. This had me walking as quickly as possible towards the quays and the more modern buildings which were hopefully more earthquake proof. I am reliably informed that these tend to sway rather than break which can lead to falling glass – this has to be better than lumps of stone. The whole of Wellington appeared to be outside looking worried which made me feel lots worse.
I didn’t like being on my own and couldn’t get through immediately to any Kiwi Cousins so rang poor old Mr Blonde Two who was fast asleep in Devon. He fed me internet information which didn’t really make me feel better but hearing his voice definitely did. The aftershocks were quite strong as well and were still going on at 11.00 yesterday evening (the quake was at 2.30). What was weirdest (apart from your whole world moving) is the way that the birds went quiet and then all took off just before a shake.
I was eventually rescued by one of my calm Kiwi cousins after I had joined the mass exodus on foot (the traffic wasn’t going anywhere at that time). We made the rather odd decision to go to the cinema (earthquake proofed very recently) where there was a full rumblerama experience as aftershocks continued. It did occur to me that watching a film called “Worlds End” just after an earthquake might have been tempting fate a bit too much!
Wow! I was wondering if you had been affected!
That is surely an experience you didn’t want but makes for an amazing blog with first hand witness info
Well done for your quick thinking!
While it was happening did you think ‘I wish I was in Dartmoor!’
Hope that was your last shock!
I have to confess for a longing for Dartmoor granite just after the quake!
Glad you’re ok. I’ve experienced quite a lot over the years (thankfully no big ones) & don’t think I’ll ever stop being completely freaked out. I agree the behaviour of the wildlife is very eerie. At least with it being in the day & you being in a cafe you were fully clothed this time xx
Definitely fully clothed and all necessary items that were missing last time are in my grab bag by my bed at night now 🙂
We may yet get serious quakes if fracking becomes extensively used in our crowded UK.
Fracking does indeed seem a scary prospect … one of our more silly ideas I think.
glad your okay sis, first I heard of your shaky experience was today (5 days later) when the word ‘tremor’ came up in a scrabble game and mum said oh by the way… lots of love A x
How much more gentle the world would seem if all news came via scrabble – am fine and have a lovely photo of a little cuzzie in a big hat at the top of Mount Vic for you. Would be great if you were here xxx