Rugby x A Ruined City

This is Christchurch's skyline as of yesterday morning. Note the various cranes.


She'll be beautiful again. Mark my words.

McCaw flips the bird to Reason.

As a Cantabrian I was outraged as I read an opinion post by "rugby journalist" Mark Reason on Stuff.co.nz earlier this week. Reason labelled McCaw and the Crusaders cheats. Going so far as to hope that we lost our game yesterday night.

What irked me even more was the fact our very own paper had the nerve to run the atrocious attack.

I accept it is an opinion post; Reason is, of course, entitled to that opinion. But an attack to that level was uncalled for and unfounded. And most certainly not one that should have been put to print in our local newspaper. It was utterly distasteful and infuriating to read at 8am in the morning.

We toe the line, yes. But when our captain has apparently (and I do not doubt this) scored 100% on a referee test, I think it's fair to say he knows what he can get away with. Every team tests the waters with each ref, interpretations vary from human to human. This is a fair call. But cheating and intimidating the ref? No. Every captain is entitled to talk to the ref to understand calls or have a whinge, and each and every team's captain does it. This isn't a one way street. What McCaw and the Crusaders do are exactly the same things that every other team in the competition and world do.

To single one man, one team out? I think somebody is a little butthurt.


So it gives me great pleasure to say that we beat the Bulls 28 - 13; with McCaw putting on a man of the match, bird flipping performance.

A stunning game from the Crusaders, not so much from the Bulls who outscored us two tries to one. But a lack of discipline cost them and Carter cashed in.

Bring on the Chiefs and the semi finals!

Wait, what? We're already midway through twenty twelve?

Again, she's flown by in the blink of an eye.

And there's been some big changes in the city and my life. The city is being picked apart building by building. It's a patchwork quilt of barren pieces of central city land with some buildings thrown here and there.

And I own my own house. Say what?! Yip. I've taken the plunge and I now own a little 102 year old beauty right opposite the city's slightly damaged and currently out of order main sports stadium.

Hopefully I'll be in at the end of the month or beginning of next month... I should be painting the interior next weekend!! Pics to follow of course.


It's come to my attention, not only that I've been very neglectful of this blog since the 22 February earthquake in 2011, but the blog itself has turned, somewhat, into an earthquake blog... Well for the handful of the posts I've done since maybe the beginning 2011.

So let's turn a leaf and I'll try not to post so much on the earthquake stuff. But first... A little comparison photo of a central city intersection. And a short earthquake spiel.

We've literally lost BLOCKS of buildings. I don't think the people of Christchurch are aware of how much we've actually lost; and I'm certain that the people of my own country have no idea what it's like to a) experience earthquakes like what we have had to deal with over the last year and a half and b) how incredibly bad it actually is.

Hell I'm not even aware of how bad it is in the central city. Add to that the numerous suburbs that are devastated and will soon be cleared of all houses and probably won't be built on again or will have multi million dollar engineered ground work done to try and make the land safe to build on again.


Anyway enough of that. Next blog will be a bitch about the Crusaders loss to the Rebels last night. I'm far from being a happy camper.

I haz sadness

This will always make me sad.

Gut wrenching is all there is to say...

2011: blink and you'll miss it

It has probably been one of the quickest years to have flown past.

I'm sure for most it's been a standard year but for me, it's been crazy. Besides all the earthquakes we've been experiencing here in Christchurch, New Zealand has successfully won the Rugby World Cup (about bloody time!), and I've finished my main tertiary education.

2012 is all about making something of myself in the construction industry. As a result of the earthquakes, I'm fortunate enough to have chosen a career path that has not been wiped out. In fact, it's a lot more in demand than it ever was. Well, here in Christchurch anyway.

They say civil engineers and quantity surveyors are the only careers in the world that cannot become extinct.


I chose well, didn't I?

Hopefully we will see insurance companies lighten up and we'll be able to move forward with our city.

We have an amazing opportunity to create a new city, to pave the way forward for New Zealand when it comes to architecture and how city's operate; and to really bring in the community.

I can't wait to see what's in store for Christchurch in the next ten to twenty years. And I'm proud to be a part of it all.

RWC Madness - Notable Games to Watch

So this Friday is the first game of the 2011 Rugby World Cup. New Zealand vs Tonga.

It's set to be an amazing six weeks here in New Zealand. Unfortunately for me, there'll be no games here in Christchurch. I'll be watching at the pubs or at home; regardless I'm insanely excited for the world's top rugby teams to be here in my beloved little country!

Below are match ups that I think will be of interest to people overseas.

Please note that all times and dates are that which are here in New Zealand (+12:00 hours) AND we will be switching to Daylight Savings Time on the 25th of September, so we'll be +13:00 hours AND my dates go dd/mm/yy ^_^

All games can be watched online here. (I've noticed that the times out by an hour on the site, but my game info is from the NZRU so I'm going with that).


9.9.11
- 7.30pm: Opening Ceremony
- 8.30pm: New Zealand vs Tonga (not a real game of interest, but it's the first game of the tournament)

10.9.11
- 8.30pm: Argentina vs England

11.9.11
- 3.30pm: Australia vs Italy

17.9.11
- 6pm: South Africa vs Fiji
- 8.30pm: Australia vs Ireland

18.9.11
- 8.30pm: France vs Canada

20.9.11
- 8.30pm: Italy vs Russia

24.9.11
- 8.30pm: New Zealand vs France (this will be the biggest game to date in the tournament)

25.9.11
- 4.30pm: Fiji vs Samoa (these guys are kings of the sevens, it'll be a fast game, not to mention Samoa upset Australia earlier this year)
- 9.30pm: Argentina vs Scotland

1.10.11
- 9.30pm: England vs Scotland

8.10.11
- 6pm: Quarter Final 1
- 8.30pm: Quarter Final 2

9.10.11
- 6pm: Quarter Final 3
- 8.30pm: Quarter Final 4

15.10.11
- 9pm: Semi Final 1

16.10.11
- 9pm: Semi Final 2

21.10.11
- 8.30pm: 3rd and 4th match

23.10.11
- 9pm: Final


So there you have it, the games that I deem interesting enough to warrant a watch for overseas people. I'll be sure to watch every game (watching online when I'm at work too lol)

Please double check the times, I'm sure they will change to be times in your location, but I can't guarantee the date will be the same here as it will be there.

One Year On

Sunday marked the one year anniversary of the 7.1 earthquake that started it all.

The 4th of September 2010 changed the lives of hundreds of thousands.

It's been a tumultuous year. We've been hit with blow after blow after blow since 4.35am on that fateful day. Boxing Day, the deadly 22nd of February 2011 quake (that in itself was a unique earthquake never before seen in the world), and of course the 13th June earthquakes.

What makes this whole series of events even more unique and intriguing is the fact the aftershocks have not ceased. And they're sizeable ones. As I write this, according to Geonet.org.nz and quake.crowe.co.nz we've had 7518 earthquakes since the 7.1 magnitude. That works out to be an average of 20.5 per day.

The general going for a major earthquake and it's subsequent aftershocks is that they subside after a while. Well it's been a year and they're not subsiding.

In saying that, they're tolerable. I'd call myself a veteran earthquake survivor now, not trying to toot my own horn or anything. They don't bother me. I'll admit there are times when one hits and it starts off slowly, progressing into something a bit harder and you begin prepare yourself to move to a safer position in the room. But other than that. they're not bad.

The frustrating thing is the fact that nobody can get insurance on contents or on buildings. From a business point of view, I totally get it. I wouldn't be taking a risk with a city that has it's future basically carved in stone when it comes to earthquakes. But from a resident and worker in the construction industry, it's frustrating as hell. Without insurance people don't want to risk building. Just in case the worst case scenario happens. And the odds are sadly, very much in favour of it.

We can't move forward.


There is still so much to be demolished. Especially in the central business district which was hit the hardest in February. The new city plan is spectacular and I look forward to being able to be a part of its construction and as a resident, stepping forth into a seemingly new city. I hope that they keep parts of the old in the new, replicas of the fallen building façades would be high on my priority list. I don't want Christchurch to lose its identity and heritage. It'll be interesting to see how and what Architect's take their inspiration from when it comes to shaping the city. I have faith though, I think it'll be spectacular when it's finally done. If I still have this ten years from now, I'll be sure to post photographs of the new Christchurch.

It's at times like these where the old proverb comes into play; every dark cloud has a silver lining.

We will prevail and fight. We will win this. Christchurch will stand proud once more.