Hello from down under in New Zealand

[Michael Rossouw]

For all you old sea dogs Lyttelton has been badly shaken in the 22nd Feb 2011 earthquake ,sadly it badly damaged every pub in Lyttelton with most of the town ,it will never be the same ,sadly the old British may have to be pulled down .

[stewart morrison]

Sorry to hear about littleton, i beiieve it was at the epicentre of the earthquake. I have many good memories
of docking there with the rangi boats and shaw saville loading or unloading. I also have great slides which
we had to climb the hills to overlook the whole bay & harbour which are very like the hills of my native Scotland though i left there years ago to live down south where most of the n z bound ships were to be found.
I have often looked at littleton & chi chi on google earth but of course they were filmed before the quake but its nice to see the old place. Used to go on leave from there to Timaru for a spot of young love
as it was then, only ever felt a tremor once in Wellington one trip and it was minor but scary to us brits
who had never experienced anything like that. Cheers shipmate

[Tom Abernethy]

hi michael,,was sorry to here of the quake at lyttleton,one of my all time faverite ports....god did,nt we make the ground shake ourselves all through the 60s. a great place with good pubs and the climb up to paint the ships name on the rocks, makeing sure you did it bigger and better than a rival ship and maby cover one up.some of thoes names were almost antiques,in such a pretty place....good luck to you lyttleton.....
tom abernethy ( r721582 )

[happy daze john in oz]

I was in Lylleton and Christchurch on Boxing day 2010 and we were in the middle of a 4.9 shake. The damage from the September quake was very evident particularly in Lytlleton where many of the buildings had large supports in place to secure them. Most of the locals at that time were convinced that many could be repaired but sadly after the second major quake this is not to be. It is heart breaking to see the state of both towns now, not to hear the Cathedral bell ring out is very hard. We will be cruising to N.Z. again at the end of the year but I fear we will not berth in Lytlleton unless a miracle occurs as the quay I am informed is very damaged. I wish all the good people of N.Z. all the very best for the future and hope that in the not too distant future life will return to normal.

[donacarney]

I was in Lylleton and Christchurch on Boxing day 2010 and we were in the middle of a 4.9 shake. The damage from the September quake was very evident particularly in Lytlleton where many of the buildings had large supports in place to secure them. Most of the locals at that time were convinced that many could be repaired but sadly after the second major quake this is not to be. It is heart breaking to see the state of both towns now, not to hear the Cathedral bell ring out is very hard. We will be cruising to N.Z. again at the end of the year but I fear we will not berth in Lytlleton unless a miracle occurs as the quay I am informed is very damaged. I wish all the good people of N.Z. all the very best for the future and hope that in the not too distant future life will return to normal.

Hello all , Yes we have just had another shake , A 3.9 at 7.16 this evening, all of the aftershocks we get are around the port hills ,Ferrymead ,cashmere. sorta gettin used to them by now. another big one could happen again. wish we could sewerage back to normal instead of using portaloos. the chemical toilets are a real workup especially for the elderly.

[Michael Rossouw]

Hi friend I to live in Woolston , I may even have seen or spoken with you at the Woolston Club .I try to get over their every Saturday and have a few with some older seaman you can come and join us ,John McLister sits with us . Do you belong to the Merchant Navy Association of Canterbury.If so I make yourself known . Michael Rossouw

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi Mike.
I lived in Christchurch for twelve months in the late fifties, me and the wife used to go bike riding all over the place, we liked Sumner very pretty place. When I was on the coast in the 50s and 60s Lyttelton was the party port. I remember one that they said had been going for three years in a house there, as one ship left another came in, they used to get a truck to remove the empties. What a sad thing to happen, all those friendly pubs now finished. Best of luck to all the Kiwis caught up in that disaster.
Cheers Des

[Glenn Baker]

Yeh your right Taff, I sailed out of Lyttelton on the Kaitoke, one of the old boxes, Johnny Rehu was the Union Delegate there at that time. best Glenn