Okay, to recap, now that I’m ensconced at an internet cafe with a real keyboard:
- We were on the outskirts of CHCH when the earthquake hit, with our rain gear, hiking shoes and a rental car with a full tank of gas.
- We decided that, rather than trying to return to the city, we’d head south for Queenstown/Wanaka, where we had friends and a room reserved for later in the week. Got in the car and drove south until it was dark, found a lovely little backpacker hostel with space for the night (“You dears are Christchurch refugees, are you? Come on in, we’ll find some room.”), then started driving again in the morning.
Made it to Wanaka mid-day, and hung out with Kate, Katie, Rickey, Jesse, Elissa, Daniel and Kiell, who had rented a lovely house there for the week. Glorious, glorious refuge, and fresh salsa from the garden (thank you thankyouthankyou!). Continued on down to Queenstown that evening.
- Our stuff is/was still on the 20th floor of the Grand Chancellor, which appears about to implode at any moment. Includes:
- all the clothes we weren’t wearing that morning.
- my computer, with all photos from the ice. Good news: computer is fully backed up to external drive. Bad news: backup drive is sitting next to the computer in the hotel. D & Andy’s computers as well (backed up in Palo Alto)
- my passport. Yes, yes, my passport. There’s a long queue of people lining up to scold me for not having it physically stapled to my body at the time. But I was going to be in the water, in a wetsuit, with no place to keep it dry. And we were just going to be away from the hotel for a couple of hours. Fortunately, D & the kids have their passports, because she wasn’t going in the water, and she’s already demonstrated that she’s heaps smarter than I am.
- various irreplaceable souvenirs and notebooks that I didn’t trust the USPS to ship back
- We’re in Queenstown now, having a lovely time. Air NZ (bless them!) have booked D and the kids to fly home from Queenstown on Saturday with no additional charges. I’m going to need to rebook to spend time in Auckland getting the passport replaced. (Just after I’d boasted having stamped out all 7 continents in its pages – serves me right for the hubris, eh?)
Anyhow, we’re all safe. My email messages will continue to be short, as I’ll be typing them out on my phone. But I do guess I need to start writing again. Thought we were done with the adventury bits there, didn’t you? Hmmm – next step after the passport is getting a new computer….
David Pablo Cohn 
I am so, so glad that you're all safe.I know it won't be the same, but I can try to replace some of the souveniers that you've lost, if there's anything from the Ice that you want. I also copied some of your folder from the I:\ drive before I left Pole, so I have that if you want it, and I'm sure someone would be willing to get you stuff from the Pole I:\ drive if you want if you left anything on there. Just… god, I wish I could help more, let me know if you need ANYTHING!
LikeLike
Glad to hear you are all ok!!! Are you going to get your stuff?!!?!
LikeLike
You *must* have dinner at the White House while you're in Wanaka. The owner is wonderful/great/eccentric, and his cat might come join you at the dinner table. It has to be the best place for a meal, and you can order any of the wines by the glass. Linda and I celebrated a fair few anniversaries there with the kids, and went at least once each visit to town.
LikeLike
@Michelle – Thanks! We're fine, really. Will wait until we get home and sort stuff out then. Will prob ask Ben to throw a bunch of idrive stuff on a backup drive and mail it out once Pole thaws in Nov. There's no hurry.Big challenge now seems to be the passport. Will keep you posted.(From my phone )
LikeLike
Any chance at all of getting your stuff back from the hotel, or is it all a definite loss?
LikeLike
Pingback: North | David Pablo Cohn·