New Zealand - Christchurch

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Hi everyone, I am sure by now you are aware of the devastating earthquake that centred on  the city of Christchurch. Having just been there 5 days ago it is shocking to see the pictures and news reports of what was a beautiful city now in ruins .... I was to be back there this evening (Wednesday) but of course that is not going to happen, we are staying in Mount Cook, and leave here at 04.00am to make our way to Picton and then the ferry crossing to Wellington, we are expecting the journey to take approx 12 hours. It has also been a very worrying time for my driver, as his family and home are all in the Christchurch area, I am pleased to say that they are all okay, what made it worse was that we had no telephone connections the systems were just overwhelmed for the first few hours. I am sure you will agree that our thoughts and prayers should be with the families that have lost or are still waiting to hear from their loved ones. I am sure that the City and the People of Christchurch will survive this tragedy and wish them a speedy recovery.
The next post shall be from Wellington, we have travelled  the South Island  to Dunedin the Edinburgh of the South ... tasted the Haggis .... seen the Albatross in full flight on the Otago Harbour Cruise, travelled to the beautiful  Milford Sound, spent a couple of days in Queenstown .... Mount Cook has been raining and low cloud ... haven't seen the famous mountain today ... .

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