I was cycling to the ‘The Hobbit’ the café where I work. It was a peaceful February morning in Christchurch. I was thinking
- That I am late for work
- Beach volleyball this evening with my friends
- Lunch-time rush-hour today at work
I locked my bike and shouted “Sorry I am late!”.
As lunch time drew nearer more and more customers came to ‘The Hobbit’. The day was normal until suddenly the ground started shaking. It was so scary. Cakes started falling to the ground and so were their plates. And I did not know what was happening. Everyone was shouting if not screaming. We heard a massive high-pitched screech like grinding metal and a crash. We ran out and saw that the Kiwi Rail freight train on its way to Nelson derailed. The earth quake felt like it lasted an hour but I read later that it only lasted 40 seconds.
We decided to go home and check on our families. In a few minutes I was cycling through the rubble towards home. Our street was deserted but in good condition compared to the rest of Christchurch. I went in and saw my friend sitting at the table, confused but unharmed. Also, half the wall fell out, only a small amount of damage compared to the rest of Christchurch had been through.
After a discussion on where to go, we decided on Blenheim because Christchurch was uninhabitable, and Blenheim is where my parents live. We packed most of our belongings into the car and put some of them in a chest for later collection then drove off. It would have usually have taken 4 ½ hours but it took nearly 8 hours because the earthquake destroyed a lot of roads and created many dangerous sinkholes. We arrived at 1 in the morning and stayed with my parents for a few weeks while we decided what to do next.
We chose to go to Australia because I had family friends over there and loads of planes were leaving for Australia anyway.
We went to Christchurch for three days. It was very scary going back of course because the aftershocks kept coming. On the second day we collected the belongings that we had stored in the chest.
A packed shuttle-bus took us to the airport. We had a pretty uneventful flight and when we got to Australia, we stayed with my family friends for a few weeks before we rented an apartment in Bentleigh, Melbourne, Victoria.
We were very excited and a little nervous as we unpacked, ready for our new life.
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