I’ve been down to Christchurch a couple of weeks ago. Although I was there to play handball in the first place, I also wanted to get a little impression of the Earthquake aftermath. Although several months have passed since the last shake, the effects are still clearly visible:

The inner city area is completely fenced off and no one is allowed in this kinda “forbidden zone”. Everything looks very scary around this zone.

Another place that was hit quite severely was the suburb of “Lyttleton”, where I have been before the big earthquakes took place. It feels strange to come back to a place that has been in good shape on your first visit. It feels like seeing an old school mate after many years again, realizing he has totally changed.

Another demolished church in Lyttleton

The big earthquakes of Christchurch have demanded many casualties and destruction. Many people were forced to leave their homes forever and settling in other areas of the country. Christchurch was known was one of the most cultural places in New Zealand, but it lost many of their historical buildings, such as this old church in Lyttleton.

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Hard to beat: The Vikings (Red shirts) were the most constant team in the Christchurch Tournament.

…the Vikings from Wellington! :-)

The Vikings won a very exciting final match against Christchurch and won the tournament. As far as I can tell they deserved to win, although I’d say that Christchurch had a very good lineup as well.

For our very own Auckland team there was not much to win in this tournament unfortunately, means that we came second last, which is a little bit disappointing, because you want to be successful no matter what, but in the end the other teams were a tad better which made the difference in the end.
OK, OK and the amount of red cards we scored put us certainly down as well. Guess, I have to apologize for mine, too :-)

However, let’s move on and look towards the upcoming Auckland tournament in august.  This is where we will take revenge! :-)

Thanks again to Chch for a great and well organized tournament.

Better luck next time: Unfortunately the tournament didn't allow us too many changes like here against Victoria Uni.

Christchurch Tournament pictures with courtesy of Jun Tanlayco. See more great pictures of that day on his website:

Christchurch Earthquake 22/02/11

The Christchurch cathedral used to be one of the famous landmarks of the city. After the second earthquake the tower collapsed and destroyed big parts of the main building. The cathedral is in the red zone of the city, which is the restricted area without access to the public. (Photo by Geof Wilson. BY-NC-ND License)

Tonight I will fly down to Christchurch for the annual Handball Tournament. It will be the first time for me to visit this city since the big earthquakes. The tournament is only on Saturday, which leaves me some time to have a look around the city on Sunday. I assume the inner part of Christchurch to be still closed. Nevertheless, I’ll take my camera with me just in case.

Anyway, the main reason will be the tournament. It will be a very hard one for us, since we don’t have many players and lacked a little bit of practice. But let’s make the best out of it.  5 Teams will be there this year, so the playing mode will be a round robin without finals.

Some people connected a Parrot AR Drone to an IPad and flew the damn thing into the Christchurch cathedral that got damaged by the big earthquakes earlier this year. But the situation down there has gotten barely any better. Last monday the city suffered from over 30 earthquakes within one day. I wonder how many hits this city is able to take.

Next month we will be down there for a handball tournament… if the court will still exist till then.

The Christchurch earthquake was certainly no fun and although it is nearly forgotten due to worse events in Japan it still affects the life here in NZ. Not so much in Auckland of course, but you can see the signs everywhere, that this country got struck severely. It feels strange to read it everyday: “Shop closed due to earthquake”.

However, live goes on and the kiwis have to make the most out of their situation. The younger generation of Christchurch has already found a way to cope with this disaster: Skate the planet, skate the earthquake.

The skating is fair, not the best ever, but certainly special, since it gives you a very good impression about the current status of Christchurch without all the sentimental whining. When have you kickflipped a 5 foot gap in the road for the last time? See “Quaked - Skating Christchurch after the earthquake”. (via)

Ich hab mal bissel in meinem Bildern gekruschdelt und dabei drei kleine Bildchen entdeckt, die man nicht unbedingt unter Verschluss halten sollte.
Zur Sprache kommen sollen die hoechst brisanten Themen, die uns Menschen doch jeden Tag so umtreiben. Sex, Geld und seltsame Wege das Selbstwertgefuehlt aufrecht zuerhalten.

Fangen wir diesmal von Hinten mit dem Selbstwertgefuehl an.
Neuseeland hat ein Problem. Keine Sau interessiert sich so richtig dafuer, was die da unten am anderen Ende der Welt eigentlich so treiben. Die Queen hat andere Sorgen als Schafe, die USA heben selber genug Schafe und Australien findet man hier doof. Aber zum Glueck halten Tonga, Fiji und Vanuatu noch zu Neuseeland. Underdogs muessen ja zusammenhalten.
Um in der Welt aber doch ein wenig Wahrgenommen zu werden spielen die Neuseelaender entweder Sportarten die keine Sau versteht (Cricket) oder versuchen sich in Rekorden, DER Internationalen Schwanzvergleichsparade ueberhaupt.
Leider treibt auch das manchmal seltsame Blueten…

Darf ich vorstellen? Turanganui River – Der kuerzeste Fluss der Suedhalbkugel.:

Turangagui River - Der kuerzeste Fluss der Welt

Jaja, Rekorde sind eigentlich ja schon so etwas wie Raritaeten. Schliesslich kann ja immer nur einer der Rekordhalter sein.
Eine andere Raritaet ist die Deutsche Mark.
Ausser Oma Else, die hin und wieder mal inzwischen wertlose 50.000 Reichs Deutsch Mark unterm Kopfkissen findet, scheint auch Neuseeland einiges an diesen Devisen in Petto zu haben. Und wenn man den Wechselkurzs in Christchurch anschaut, scheint unser gutes altes 5 Mark Stueck (moege es in Frieden ruhen) hier noch quicklebendig und schwer gefragt zu sein:

Die Deutsche Mark ist zurueck!

Hachja das Leben. Wie wir jetzt wissen fuehrt ein gesundes Selbstwertgefuehl zu Rekorden. Diese wiederum koennen ihrem Halter durchaus jede Menge Geld einbringen und jemand der Kohle hat, der hat auch viel… naaa? Richtig, Sexualitaet!

Und die soll in Neuseeland auch net zu kurz kommen. Deshalb hier ein kleines Suchbild aus Paihia. Mir war eines Abends langweilig und so dachte ich mir: “Mensch, da machste doch mal eine Langzeitbelichtung vom Maritime Building Paihia”
Was ich zu diesem Zeitpunkt nicht sehen konnte war das muntere Treiben im Wasser… Aber dafuer hats ja die Helligkeitsfunktion von Bildbearbeitungsprogrammen. :-) Ich sage nicht, dass es das ist wonach es aussieht, aber bestreiten mag ich es schon zweimal nicht. :-)

(Falls man auf dem kleinen Bild nix erkennen kann: Draufklicken! Auf Flicker kann man unter “All Sizes” das Ganze vergroessern.)

Fehlersuchbild

So genug Sauereien fuer heute.
Ich bin uebrigens in Christchurch im Moment und damit endlich auf der Suedinsel angekommen. Premiere. Leider wars auf dem Wer hierher so neblig, dass man sogar Kreuzfahrtschiffe uebersehen konnte. Respektive die einen uebersehen konnten.
Schoen hier unten. Doch wirklich. Morgen wird ne Wanderung eingelegt und am Montag gehts auch schon wieder weiter. Leider geniesse ich gerade mal wieder Ultralahm Internet, so dass es mir noch nicht moeglich ist euch mehr Bilder zu zeigen.

Naechstes mal dann hoffentlich.

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