Cliff Hangers

An “out of town” job took me up to Kaikoura today. Nice to get out on the South Island roads again and see the beautiful coastline up there for the first time since the devastating 7.8 earthquake some 14 months ago. There evidence is clear, and even though the road is open (daylight hours only) there is still a lot of work being done to stabilise the hills. The slopes and cliffs are crawling with dedicated workers hanging off ropes like mountaineers (they are exactly that really), drilling in anchors deep into the rock above the road.

The earthquake shifted Cape Campbell lighthouse 2m closer to the North Island and raised it vertically by almost 1m. Kaikoura has moved to the northeast by nearly a metre, and has been lifted by 0.7m. The power of nature is awesome.