Tray

When the February Earthquake hit us I can honestly say I’ve never been so scared in all my life & hope never to be that scared ever again. After the first night of continuous big aftershocks all night in the dark with no power we decided the following day to tidy up & go. Our good neighbour gave us a can of petrol & we left with a car load of essentials. We fled to Golden Bay via Cheviot/Kaikoura/Mapua. We met so many amazing people on our journey, the whole of Christchurch was on the move. A BIG THANK YOU to Bevs & her man who are a pair of Diamonds to whom we will always be grateful for their support,warmth,kindness & generosity all washed down with a fab sense of humour..(enjoyed our recent celebrations btw.)

After 3wks on the road we decided that we wanted to return to Sumner which we did for 5 wks. These weeks were the longest ever it was as if time had slowed right down.It was good to see everyone again but with every strong aftershock we knew deep down we couldn’t re-settle Sumner had changed for us forever, a lot of friends had left already.

March/April we drove back & forth to Nelson (thanks again Bevan) looking for a house to feel safe in. We eventually found an Eco-friendly house in Nelson & enrolled our son at the local school.

It has been very difficult to leave all those connections we’d made during our 1st year in Christchurch & to leave our perfect happy place, but i do feel now we have found another.After 4 months we feel settled & happy to be in Nelson.We have lovely neighbours again , lovely friends & the sun seems to be out all of the time. We know we’ve been very lucky we are alive no-one we know died & we didn’t buy a house or a business. We feel we’ve been given another chance to enjoy this beautiful country.

Our son is enjoying school & has joined a local tennis club-we’ve been to visit a fab high school he wants to go to, we are very proud of him the way he has coped. He did have a bit of post traumatic stress back in Feb & he does miss Sumner & his friends as do we, but he is making new ones & he is still happy we came to NZ despite the Earthquakes we experienced.

My hubby has settled back into work(computer games)and loves his new outside office. I’m getting excited about making pots again.

We have found a fab home lots of land for chookes & veggies, big blue skies & starry nights.
The wood-burner keeps us warm as toast as it heats the underfloor heating . We have solar panels which provides our electricity & a stream which gives us our water.
Nelson is a fab place to live & only 10 mins drive away.Cable Bay is our nearest beach 5 mins down the road. 1 hr south & we’re in Marlborough sounds 2 hrs North and we’re in beautiful Golden Bay.

If it hadn’t been for the Feb eatrhquake we would never have left Christchurch. We are happy with our decision & look forward everyday.

The best thing we ever did as a family was to emigrate to NZ. We are all much happier people for it-Yes we miss our friends & family back home but they will always be our friends & family that won’t change we miss our friends back in Sumner but we know we will see them all again at some point. Thanks for reading my story.

florabundi

Oh Tray, you have been on a big journey. Very glad you are now settled and thanks for sharing your story. We are looking to move to the Nelson area as soon as our house sells. Maybe bump into to you

Tray

Thanx all is good now...good luck to you with the house sale & your move Look us up when you get settled ,we've always enjoyed meeting people from this forum, Nelson is a good choice

Sue

Tray,

So great to read your update. You and your family have been through so much and I'm so pleased that you are enjoying your new location. Sounds like you are all feeling more settled, and that's fantastic.

Am Loolah

What a wonderful update. After all you have been through you sound like you have come out the other end stronger and smiling.

Tray

Thank you guys

Luckybird

A brilliant update thank you Tray , so glad to hear how much you still love NZ and that you are doing everything you wanted to do and that you are settled as a family, much continued happiness to you all

Tray

Kia Ora

Lorna at Vicenza

Wow - what a great post.

The best of luck and all best wishes to you and the family from now onwards xxx

chippy64

Great update

MnB

Good to read you're settled in beautiful Nelson and life is rosy ....glad everything has worked out for you after the awful trauma ....keep smiling & enjoying
B x

BEVS

OK. So it's a bit of alright.

Tray

Ta Mrs Merci Beacuop

Persephone

Great update Tray
Glad to see you're settling into a new place and making a new start after the earthquakes
x

Tray

Kia Ora