Whoa… Stop the Car! Wairere is Falling!

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

This is my retro tour of our December 2011-January 2012 trip to New Zealand.

We’ve veered off the beaten track for the moment and are on a smaller Provincial State highway … almost at the small town I’d like to visit when suddenly a break in the clouds has us going  ”whoa… stop the car!”  and pulling over to the side of the road for a moment to get a better look.

Unexpectedly, there in the middle of a range of hills, is a stunning waterfall.  There is a turn off to the Falls sign-posted just a little further down the road and  it doesn’t look too far at all,  so on the spur of the moment we decide to go and see if we can quickly get a closer look.

The even smaller side road gets us a few kilometres  closer and ends in a public car park where Himself and the kids tumble out of the van to take a look at some information boards.

We learn that these are called the Wairere Falls, and normally Himself would love nothing better than to set out on a brisk walk to see them up close. However we learn that the shortest route to the Falls will take 45 minutes (Himself  with his “daddy Dutch legs”could probably do that in far less, but the kids would want to join him so there’s no realistic  hope for a quick walk)

The other hazard is that he and the kids don’t really have proper walking shoes here with us,  I think Himself’s old pair of hiking boots are in my Aunt and Uncle’s loft back in Christchurch… not so much a problem if the track were dry but without them, in this weather,  not wise.

The last problem is one of time… we have a meeting arranged later in the afternoon in Auckland city with a family member and this is going to cut things just a little too fine.

This is definitely a walk we would love to do (whatever the weather) if we could come prepared with the right clothing and shoes and with ample time. So the result today is … a future blog post with photographic views from the top on a future New Zealand trip (sans crutches on my part) is  now on our “to do” list and something to look forward to.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

The Landscape of Childhood is Also Changed Forever…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Yesterday in my travel diary I took you around the Port Hills suburbs of Redcliffs and Sumner.

These are well known and well loved areas to Christchurch residents, Who as a Christchurch kid hasn’t clambered under and over Cave Rock?

Who hasn’t begged their  parents or Grandparents to pull over at the pink Mr. Whippy Van  (ice-cream van) that was alsways parked up on the corner closest to Rapanui ?  Most of us of course as kids only knew Rapanui by it’s “other”  more  familiar name: Shag Rock.

Who from Christchurch doesn’t remember the red roofed Boat Club  sitting on the waterfront of Redcliff’s Monk’s Bay?  … in Summer it was packed tight with yachts going in and out of the water, their tall masts glistening in the sunlight as we drove past.

Sadly all of these have been casualties of the earthquakes that have occurred since September 2010.

Luckily I found that Google Earth still sports images of this area from 2007 so I got busy with the “print screen” function and retrieved some images that I can use to compare to the “what it looks like now” photographs.

Shag Rock fell to bits in the shakes and  is now just a fraction of it’s former self… it sits sadly in a small heap looking like it’s still reeling from the sucker punch.

With the huge line of shipping containers now stacked up keeping the cliff-face at bay I doubt that Mr. Whippy will ever stand in “that” well known spot again, or that people will want to stop on the other side of the road from these cliffs  and the shipping containers to buy ice-cream.

Cave Rock faired better… only pieces of it collapsed, but this natural structure is hollow, there is a huge cavity in the middle of it:  imagine your hand in a claw shape pointing downwards… that’s essentially the shape of Cave Rock, there are “exits” of the caves , well they are only ‘sort of” caves.. more like one cave with multiple exits since everything pretty much meets in the middle.  At high tides the sea moves in as well…

Now  it’s all in danger of catastrophic collapse should a big enough shake strike and who gets advance warning of then that happens?  Therefore it’s been fenced off for the public good, and whilst I totally understand that it’s way too great a hazard now to leave open for the public, part of my heart aches because future generations of children will never have the pleasure of running underneath it , hearing the semi-echo  of their squeals inside and running out one exit as the sea bubbled in through another…

…or scrabbling around on the top,  screaming ” race you to the mast ! ”  as you got the jump and sped ahead making the most of your head start.

I was a strong runner and didn’t even need the head start,  but sadly couldn’t resist in the way that kids often can’t and therefore had to suffer my sisters  …”it’s not fair” and sulks as she milked the “injustice”   for all it was worth all afternoon.

Now we never know when Nature is going to pull a fast-one on us again, it’s not worth the risk to let anyone up here and I heard that after the December 23 2011 quakes, the mast in Cave Rock  is now on more of a lean than ever, so what does that say for the structural integrity of the rock underneith?  … or is it just the mast anchours that are broken?  Who knows…

After:

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Before:

(photograph © Thanks Google Street View)

(photograph ©Thanks Google Street View)

… and a view of Rapanui at right,  with cliff before  rockfalls and without the shipping containers…

(photograph © Thanks Google Street View)

Christchurch Boat Club.. After…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Boat Club Before…

(photograph © Thanks Google Street View)

(photograph © Thanks Google Street View)

(photograph © Thanks Google Street View)

..and I think that the little building ( also with a red roof) on a shoreline further up also belonged to the Boat Club? … I think I didn’t see it when I went past… I think it”s been demolished too. (Boat Club is in background with red roof). Sadly, no “now” photo of the little building.

Before:

(photograph © Thanks Google Street View)

(photograph © Thanks Google Street View)

Cave Rock…After…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Fresh scars from rock falls…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Before…

(photograph © Thanks Google Street View)

(photograph ©Thanks Google Street View)

…oh, and whilst I was zooming along the main road of  Redcliffs in Google Street View, I stumbled on the building that is now the bare patch /rebuild in one of the last photos in yesterdays post. This is  a screen-shot of the supermarket that used to stand where that bare land is currently.

(photograph © Thanks Google Street View)