During excavations under the floor of a house in Akaroa, we found a large assemblage of labelled bottles. Labelled bottles are always an exciting find, firstly because they tell us what the bottle held at the time of its disposal, … Continue reading →
I’m writing this blog on the 3rd of April, 2020. It’s currently day nine of a four week (or longer) shutdown initiated by the New Zealand government to try and stop the spread of Covid-19. Over the past two weeks … Continue reading →
Today on the blog we are discussing my favourite site of 2019. We already talked about part of the site’s history last fortnight on the blog- that it contained the store and offices for Walton, Warner and Co. and their … Continue reading →
In yet another segue (there’s clearly a theme to my blogs this year), today on the blog we’re going to go into more detail on something we touched on in last fortnight’s blog. Last time on the blog we broke … Continue reading →
Last time on the blog we looked specifically at the beer bottle labels from our Akaroa site. Today’s blog post is essentially a part two, where we’re going to take a look at the other labels found on the site. … Continue reading →
Mountains cannot be surmounted except by winding paths. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe The Port Hills may not be mountains as such, but they formed a formidable barrier for the first European Settlers. Of course, Māori had a number of well-established … Continue reading →
This is the third end of year blog post that I (Clara) have written, and just as I started writing it one of our interns dropped her lunch all over the floor as she was putting it in the microwave: … Continue reading →
Over the past two blog posts we’ve been looking at a large assemblage of labelled bottles found under a house in Akaroa. Today on the blog we’re going to take a step back and look at how the bottles travelled … Continue reading →
Some of the most common archaeological finds related to the European settlement of New Zealand during 19th century are usually from residential occupation. Features like rubbish pits, underfloor deposits, wells (brick and artesian), cesspits, soak pits, post holes and drainage … Continue reading →
Today Aotearoa continues to take tentative steps back into level 2 of the Covid-19 response, so you might think it strange that I would be voluntarily stepping back into quarantine. But we’re the stepping back into the history – all … Continue reading →
For some of us, that title may have conjured up childhood memories of making ‘sand-saucer’ gardens for the local flower show or ‘pet and garden’ day at school. But I’ve actually something different in mind. We have found quite a … Continue reading →
This week New Zealand entered its third week of the Covid-19 lockdown, and one of the phrases being thrown around a lot is creating a ‘new normal’. The idea of a ‘new normal’ gives a sense that life, whether for … Continue reading →
If you walk along the Avon River by Cashel Street you might catch a glimpse of the small gondolas taking their fares for a leisurely punt through the city and botanical gardens. Today this attraction is aimed largely at tourists, … Continue reading →
One of my favourite features of a pre-1900 building is the beautiful ceiling rose. Ceiling roses are often found in ‘public’ rooms in Victorian homes – usually in the parlour and dining room. But sometimes, if the original owners were … Continue reading →
The health benefits, cleanliness and exoticism of the Turkish Bath so appealed to Canterbury settlers that it became the height of fashion in the 1880s. Today we enjoy city operated spa facilities …
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Three seismologists from GeoNet reflect on the decade of big earthquakes that began 10 years ago with the Darfield earthquake in Canterbury.
An report into EQC finds it was poorly prepared for the Canterbury earthquakes. Quarantined travelers have moved before 14 days. Anna Thomas has the news.
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What are the lessons from the Christchurch earthquakes? The Government was slow in their quake response, but does that mean we should give more property market power to the private sector?
Tonight Christchurch's Bread & Circus Buskers festival is swinging into action, and its promising to lure the biggest crowds to the central city since pre-earthquake times. But organisers admit the festival hasn't escaped its dire financial past, despite new management and a rebrand as the Bread and Circus Festival last year. And it it will still be running at a loss until about 2022. Katie Todd reports.
There are hopes an earthquake simulation in Porirua might result in homes being better prepared for a big shake. Houses on Christchurch's Port Hills suffered more damage than houses in other areas during the Canterbury Earthquakes - even though the ground shaking was roughly the same. Now the Earthquake Commission is on a mission to find out why that was - and prevent the same level of damage in a future quake. Checkpoint reporter Logan Church and video journalist Dom Thomas start their report up on a hilly farm above Wellington.
There are 1,600 Canterbury homeowners with earthquake claims still open with EQC. About 100 homeowners turned up to a meeting organised by EQC Fix in Christchurch on Monday night - all with stories of home repair hell, botched repairs, or seemingly never-ending arguments with EQC, Southern Response, or their private insurer. They were all tired and wondering why they still had to fight more than nine years on from the first Canterbury Earthquake. Checkpoint video journalist Logan Church travelled to Christchurch to speak to those still fighting for what they believe they are entitled too.
Christchurch residents forced away from their redzone homes returned today for the unveiling of the the Avon loop pathway - the first redevelopment, nine years on from the deadly earthquake. Reporter Conan Young went along to hear from them.
Some of Christchurch's earthquake damaged red-zone land is another step closer to having some long term decisions made about its future. Today the Minister of Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Megan Woods, formally handed over ownership of 70 hectares of land to the Christchurch City Council. The land gifted to the council is in the coastal suburbs of Southshore, South Brighton and Brooklands, where residents have been waiting almost a decade to find out what the future holds for their area. Rachel Graham reports
Time is nearly up for owners of on-sold quake damaged properties in Canterbury to apply to claim money for botched repairs. The Government announced last year it would give an ex-gratia payment to home-owners with properties that went over the Earthquake Commission's then cap of $100,000. Today is the last day for applications after the original August deadline was extended due to Covid-19. But there are calls to extend that deadline again, as applications have flooded in over the past month.
Tomorrow will mark four years since a huge 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked North Canterbury. As well as severely damaging homes and roads, it left some hill country farms in the area with up to 40 percent of their land unusable. Four years on, sheep and beef farmers are finding new ways to work. Rural reporter, Maja Burry and cameraman Nate McKinnon have the story.
As the nation prepares for lockdown, Christchurch's leaders says their city is prepared. Over the past ten years Christchurch has dealt with it's fair share of crisis, from earthquakes, Port Hills fires, the March 15 terror attacks, flooding, and a gas explosion. While Covid-19 has a global impact, some Cantabrians say their past experience will help them get through. Eleisha Foon reports.
A momentous day in Christchurch as a huge steel frame was installed as part of the stabilisation work for Christ Church Cathedral. Karyn speaks with project director Keith Paterson about the plans to return the famed rose window extensively damage in the 2011 earthquake.
EQC was ill-prepared to deal with the wide spread damage of the Christchurch Earthquakes and as a consequence its reputation been left in tatters with many seeing the commission as uncaring, miserly and inefficient. That is according to the findings of the inquiry into EQC and its handling of quake claims in Canterbury and Kaikōura. Inquiry Chair Dame Silvia Cartwright lays out a raft of inadequacies including EQC not being equiped to handle a mass scale managed repair programme - leading to multiple mistakes, poor staffing decisions and inadequate quality control. Damage assessments were the root of claimants disputes time and time again. Dame Silvia Cartwright described to Checkpoint the way claimants have been treated by EQC.