A Young Country

New Zealand is a young country. The British may scoff at what constitutes “old” in New England, but the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth long before the Brits established their first settlements here in New Zealand. In geologic terms, New England is positively ancient compared to these islands in the South Pacific. One look at the jagged peaks of the South Island and the lava flows on the North Island confirms that in many ways this place continues to be a work in progress.  It is the earthquakes, however, that bring the youth of these islands into the rarefied light of day – recently with disastrous results.

During the NZ winter of 2009, I experienced my first earthquake. My house rattled a bit and there were whitecaps in my landlord’s outdoor pool but it was pretty innocuous all things considered. In 2010, Wanaka experienced the tremors from a large quake centered in rural Canterbury. That one literally bounced me out of bed, caused rock slides that closed the road to Treble Cone for the day, and deeply affected the lives of many of Canterbury’s farming families in what already had been a tough year for them. Luckily the 2010 quake struck Christchurch at a time when the downtown area was quiet. And then there's 2011.

It’s hard to articulate the effects of the large earthquake that struck downtown Christchurch this past February. Though the huge Japanese earthquake and astonishingly horrific tsunami that followed this past spring may have trumped the attention garnered by the Christchurch quake, the effects of the earthquake on Kiwi communities are still spreading and evolving. My recollection is that the death toll was around 180 in Christchurch. Obviously, the scale of the events in Japan was far greater, but in this small country, 180 deaths represents an enormous number of Kiwis. Many remain homeless, may more have had their ability to do their jobs compromised by massive destruction to the infrastructure, and the economy is struggling to revive. The downtown area of Christchurch, the largest city on the South Island, is effectively a non-entity.

Another earthquake struck Christchurch on Tuesday morning while I was traveling to New Zealand from my home in Vermont. Thankfully, it appears that there have been few deaths. The greater issue, however, is the emotional aftershocks felt by a population already reeling. I can only imagine what it’s been like for the city’s residents. The analogies are easy to craft – writers freely use “bedrock” to mean something that is unshakable, understanding the deeply felt emotions occurring when the earth literally moves beneath ones feet. After a NZ summer of aftershocks and now another quake, ‘shaken’ must not be close to describing the emotions of the city’s and the region’s residents.

I arrived here in Wanaka on Wednesday afternoon very excited to be back in this wonderfully beautiful place. Many of the people with whom I will spend my time over the coming days and months are not from New Zealand, have no family here, and will doubtless be able to consider the effects of these earthquakes with a certain detachment, enjoying the short-sighted luxury of thinking that they have not been affected personally. I consider myself very lucky that in the few years I’ve been coming to Wanaka to work at Treble Cone I’ve become close friends with many local residents who are not a part of the itinerant circus of young resort employees and nomadic snow-junkies. They have provided me with a sense being welcome and of belonging in a way that leaves me grateful for a greater attachment to the place than I might not otherwise have. I look forward to catching up with my Kiwi friends in the coming days, to hearing their voices and seeing the look in their eyes as they tell me about how the world in Wanaka and on the South Island is surviving, even flourishing in these trying times. While I am obviously grateful to not have felt these most recent quakes in a literal sense, I am anxious to reconnect in a way that allows me to feel them figuratively.

New Zealand is a young country. That youth affects the character of its people and is a major reason for the beauty of its landscape. In 2011, I can only hope that their youthful exuberance and the beauty that surrounds them will allow my friends and hosts here to survive the effects of the youthful nature of the ground on which they walk. I am confident that it will and that we will enjoy yet another powder-filled winter season at Treble Cone.

I should note that though the events in Christchurch have a tremendous effect on the people here in Wanaka, the city is a six hour drive away. At Treble Cone, our expectation is that the earthquakes and the conditions on the ground there will not impact on our operations. My hope is that people from across Australasia and the world will not be dissuaded from coming to the South Island, sharing all that Wanaka and Treble Cone have to offer.