Bees, pets take evacuation voyage
Second convoy arrives
A box of bees, 14 dogs, a cat and 186 people were among the next wave of earthquake evacuees to arrive in Lyttelton.
The HMNZS Canterbury arrived in Lyttelton at 8am on Sunday, bringing with it a mix of residents, tourists, pets and a box of bees.
Passengers were transported on shuttle buses to Horncastle Arena, where many were picked up by family and friends.
As they got off the buses, many people shouted with joy and some ran and jumped into their loved ones’ arms.
One waiting woman yelled: ‘‘My dad’s finally back!’’
Tancrede Leger from France and Caroline Grubbs from the USA, who study in Dunedin, were camping in the mountains when the earthquake hit.
They were planning on tramping over Mt Fyffe on Monday and Tuesday.
‘‘We heard all the landslides and everything come down and yeah, it was pretty impressive. We had no idea what the situation was in Kaikoura,’’ Leger said.
They moved their tent away from the trees and tried to get some sleep.
The following morning they drove down the mountain, hoping to be able to return to Dunedin, only to find the roads out of town were ruined.
They left their car at a mechanic, and stayed with a local for the week.
Leger said it was a relief to catch the ship out. ‘‘It’s a good feeling to finally be able to move and go home,’’ he said.
‘‘The people of Kaikoura have just done an amazing job to help whatever they could. It was just amazing to be there for that.’’
Christine Aitken and Peter Small were on a motorcycle trip when they became stranded in Kaikoura.
Aitken said she was glad to get back to hot water.
‘‘Guess what? I washed my hands, went to the toilet, came out and washed them again. It was just so exciting!’’
Small said they were originally going to wait for the inland road to open, but it was taking too long.
‘‘Gotta get back to work sooner or later,’’ he said.
‘‘The ride in the navy ship was pretty good.’’
Christchurch residents Megan and Eddie van Opzeeland were at their Kaikoura holiday home for the long weekend when the earthquake struck.
‘‘Silly me, took the Monday off as well, and ended up stuck there,’’ Eddie van Opzeeland said.
‘‘But we’ve spent the last few days with our neighbours up there. They’ve been looking after us.’’ They were veterans of the Canterbury earthquakes, so they knew what was happening, and luckily their house was not damaged.
‘‘Our issue was, because we were down on the beach, was the tsunami threat, so that was a new one thrown at us,’’ Eddie van Opzeeland said.
Their house had tank water and gas for cooking, so the couple were planning on staying until the roads opened, but the date kept getting pushed back, so they decided to leave and get back to work.
‘‘We sort of feel sorry though for the people of Kaikoura, the locals, because they’ve got some big issues to deal with there and a lot of them will lose their livelihoods.’’
More than 900 people have been evacuated from Kaikoura since last Monday. - Fairfax NZ A second New Zealand Defence Force convoy reached Kaikoura on Sunday afternoon, delivering more supplies to the earthquake-hit town.
The convoy of seven vehicles was given the all clear by Civil Defence to travel the inland road, despite a significant landslip risk. The journey took about three hours.
The route was shut on Saturday, after a 26-vehicle convoy with about 50 troops made it through on Friday.
The route remains closed to the public.
The defence force vehicles carried food, water and other supplies, including diesel, petrol and LPG.
According to Civil Defence, ongoing surveys found there was a significant risk of landslip along the inland road.
On Saturday Acting Civil Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee said the road would not be open until the middle of next week at the earliest.
Even then access would be weather dependent and limited, he said.
Limited access meant decisions would be made on each end of the road about what vehicles could go through.
Any issues with the road meant the NZDF would be relying on sea and air transport to move supplies and troops.
It had delivered a ‘‘significant amount’’ of aid to Kaikoura by sea and air and would continue to do so. - Fairfax NZ
"The ride in the navy ship was pretty good." Peter Small