A photograph captioned, "It feels like it has been a really on-going process. We weren't in the head space for it really, because when you retire, you think you're in your retirement home and you're there to stay. You don't expect to have to move on. To do all this".
A photograph captioned, "We went to Nigel's place for breakfast and stayed for three months".
A photograph captioned, "In the 1930s the traffic in Gayhurst Road was so light that I can remember playing hockey and cricket with apple boxes for wickets. If a car or cart came along there was plenty of time to shift the boxes to let them past".
A photograph captioned, "My daughter grew up in this house. She's 10 now. She is going to miss it - and Dallington. It's where she's grown up, what she knows. She'll miss it alright. Me too".
A photograph showing the damaged streetscape of Dallington, following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph captioned, "Nobody’s trained for this, you go to your lawyer and they can’t give you an answer because they've never faced this before, so yeah, even they are scratching around trying to find out".
A photograph captioned, "The government's not stupid, they'll put three houses on each of these sections".
Its 12 years of accumulated stuff and I was thinking I was just going to get rid of everything. I had the feeling I didn't want to hang onto anything. We tried to get rid of a lot of stuff in a garage sale. Some of it went, some of it didn't. It's a long process".
A photograph captioned, "We get the young fellas to come in and do the upkeep on the government houses that have been sold. They cut down all the long grass and just tidy up all the fire risk sections. This one's easier cos the house is gone. If you keep it tidy it looks tidy from the road. There's people living here, and there's nothing worse than looking over your house and seeing grass this high".
A photograph showing St Paul's School's damage in Dallington, following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph showing a 'red zoned' home in Dallington, following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph showing Jean Sprott in her 'red zoned' home, soon to be demolished following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph captioned, "So they gradually go".
A photograph showing earthquake damage in a Dallington resident's home, following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph showing a window in a 'red zoned' home in Dallington, Christchurch following the February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph captioned, "See, Dallington still is beautiful".
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 23 March 2012 entitled, "Seeing Red".
A digitally manipulated image of a black truck parked outside the Bus Exchange building on Colombo Street. The photographer comments, "Life is always full of surprises".
A man reads a sign posted on the door of the Christchurch Art Gallery, which reads "The gallery is currently closed to the public". The photographer comments, "Red Carded - A red-coloured card shown by a referee to a player, especially in soccer, to indicate that the player is being ejected from the pitch. The Christchurch Art Gallery has left the building. All the current and future exhibitions of the Art Gallery are being mainly held out of doors".
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 29 October 2012 entitled, "Walking to Work".
A digitally manipulated image of liquefaction around a house in Avondale. The photographer comments, "The bottom of the gates were swallowed up by liquefaction, but the house still looked in good condition, which was confirmed by builders just going in to work on the property. It is in the Christchurch red zone, which after testing has been deemed unsuitable for houses to be built on. All the land will be bought by the Government and they would also buy any properties that could be repaired. The remaining insured property owners will get a payment from the insurance company. All the buildings are condemned to be knocked down".
Grass growing through liquefaction silt in Avondale. The photographer comments, "Although this grass seems to be growing on the liquefaction created by the earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand, they are actually only growing through it. Nothing seems to grow even though seeds will sprout almost anywhere else. The seeds are growing in the soil which got covered up by the liquefaction. If liquefaction gets mixed with even a little soil then nature can get a foothold".
A video of interviews with three residents about their Port Hills properties. The video was filmed the day after Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee announced the red-zoning of 285 Port Hills properties. The video includes an interview with Marine Kent (whose house was zoned white to green), Mark Tranter (whose house was zoned white to red), and Tony Ging (whose house is still white-zoned).
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 17 December 2012 entitled, "Demolition Drumming".
A view down Beresford Street in New Brighton, looking west towards the city at sunset. The photographer comments, "On the other side of the Avon river from New Brighton is the Bexley red zone. Here numerous earthquake damaged streets of houses will be flattened due to it being to uneconomical in the current climate to repair the land to be suitable for housing. There is a campaign at the moment to try and convert all this red zone land, which is mainly adjacent to the Avon river to a giant park".
A video about the rezoning of 252 residential properties in the central city, Richmond, and Linwood. The video includes footage of Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee announcing the rezoning at a CERA press conference. It also includes an interview with Lynn Anderson, whose central city property was rezoned red.
A video of a tour of the Christchurch central city Red Zone. The video includes footage of Colombo Street and Gloucester Street.
An entry from Ruth Gardner's blog for 30 August 2012 entitled, "A plethora of pleasures".
A digitally manipulated image of a shop window. A vase is visible in the window, and the sillhouette of a mannequin in the background. The photographer comments, "The title came from the pot and the E on the window. This is a building that has been off limits since the Christchurch earthquake. The E was sprayed on the window by rescue teams after searching the building and finding it was empty. This is a very old wooden building that looks OK from the front, but terrible from the side as the previously adjoined building has been demolished.
The feet of a fallen mannequin rest against a shop window. The photographer comments, "It is enough to make your toes curl. This is a mannequin that has been on its back since this clothing store was cleared out after the Christchurch earthquake. The store, which is in the earthquake red zone, has been off limits and untouched in the for two years".