Greetings From Middle Earth (aka New Zealand)

[T.A.R.]

Congrats CJ! What an adventure, all the best to you and yours!

[jps]

Ah, so you moved there to help in the rebuilding.......good for you!

[manta]

By day, prop a coupla sturdy 4003s against a few walls!! Then after dark, bring the house down.

Actually, I didn't realize the rebuild was still on there. That was quite a quake. We even had tsumani warnings then in Guam, which is North Pacific.

Interesting to see that. They have so many excellent carpenters and artisans there you would think that would be fixed by now.

[cjj]

Interesting to see that. They have so many excellent carpenters and artisans there you would think that would be fixed by now.

It's not that they don't have competent people to do the work, it's just the sheer magnitude of the destruction. In the US we all hear about "big" quakes such as Loma Prieta (the 1989 "World Series" quake), and while bad, it didn't really have the destructive power that the Christchurch quake had. A lot of the damage was due to the quake being an aftershock of a big, destructive quake 6 months earlier.

The Feb 2011 "aftershock" happened essentially right beneath the city. Peak ground accelerations of over 2g (twice the force of gravity) were recorded with numerous eye witness accounts of people actually being tossed into the air. This was one of the highest ground accelerations ever recorded, anywhere on earth. It is said that this sort of quake would totally flatten most world cities and it was only New Zealand's strict building codes that kept the damage as limited as it was. Of course the damage from the earlier quake didn't help.

Of the 4000 or so buildings in the city center, something like 50% were either destroyed or have to be torn down due to being too damaged to repair. There are still over 1000 buildings that need to come down. And it's a slow process since in many cases they have to do it carefully to avoid damaging adjacent buildings.

There are whole subdivisions, with tens of thousands of homes that need to be demolished, well over 100,000 with damage needing repairs. Severe liquifaction caused many areas to be unlivable due to totally tearing up the underground infrastructure (sewer/water/power). The thinking is that rebuilding in those areas would just be signing up for the same in a future event.

Estimates are that it's going to take 10 years or more to really rebuild and somewhere between 50 and 100 years to recover economically...

[Colonel Sanders]

I did the same adventure you did when I moved from Quebec to Australia back in 2007.

If you are interested to stay there you should apply for your permanent residency as soon as possible. I was stuck with a temporary work visa when the GFC hit and I was nearly sent back home... I fast tracked lodgement of my permanent residency request and got it just in time.

Only drawback of living down under is the shipping cost from the USA for a bass...

[Ashgray]

Gandalf's with you, CJ...

Ash

[cjj]

I did the same adventure you did when I moved from Quebec to Australia back in 2007.

If you are interested to stay there you should apply for your permanent residency as soon as possible. I was stuck with a temporary work visa when the GFC hit and I was nearly sent back home... I fast tracked lodgement of my permanent residency request and got it just in time.

PR already applied for and is being processed.

Only drawback of living down under is the shipping cost from the USA for a bass...

Well, that and the cost of just about everything else that has to be shipped here. Seems pretty much everything is 2 to 3 times the cost for the same thing in the US. Even Ricks, the going price for a 4003 is $3599...

[cjj]

Gandalf's with you, CJ...

The attachment Gandalf.jpg is no longer available

Ash

Gandalf??? That's just me with a different hat after I grew out my beard...

[jdogric12]

Finally got around to searching to see if a thread like this existed before bothering you with a pm, and found it. Very cool that you made this work out for you! My wife and I recently read about Niue... think you'll visit there?

[cjj]

Finally got around to searching to see if a thread like this existed before bothering you with a pm, and found it. Very cool that you made this work out for you! My wife and I recently read about Niue... think you'll visit there?

It's certainly not out of the question. After all, we're in a new part of the world (well, my wife isn't, yet ) and so there will be TONS of new places to explore. And we plan on doing just that! I've been to a few places in the So.Pacific, but there are many more I'd love to see, and Niue is one of 'em...

[xpitt]

...... (only they drive on the "wrong" side of the road! ). ....

How do New Zealanders know that a newbie is driving ? The windshield wipers are busy while the car is driving around the corner on a nice sunny day.

[cjj]

...... (only they drive on the "wrong" side of the road! ). ....

How do New Zealanders know that a newbie is driving ? The windshield wipers are busy while the car is driving around the corner on a nice sunny day.

Well, that's only partially true (and yes, I HAVE done it more than a few times ). I say partially because a lot of the cars from Europe do not have the turn signal controls reversed. So, you never really know just what you are going to get with different cars here. Some have the controls on the left, some on the right...

[cjj]

Had an interesting conversation with one of my co-workers yesterday. We somehow got talking on the subject of accents and he said that I had a very "light" American accent.

When I moved down here, I wondered how long it would take before I picked up a "Kiwi" accent. In reality, the question should be, "How long will it be before I lose my American accent.

Funny how we never think of ourselves as having accents...

[jps]

We don't, and don't let them think you do...unless you say y'all to them.

[xpitt]

Funny how we never think of ourselves as having accents...

I have two on my 340 and V64