Tribute to Lyttelton

Lyttelton is a small town south-east of Christchurch – New Zealands second-largest city. The northern part of the Port Hills draw a natural barrier between Christchurch and Lyttelton. The small town is economically very important to Christchurch and the South Island because its harbour is a major trans-shipment centre for lumber and fuel. Lyttelton Harbour is also the port of destination for large cruise ships coming to the eastern shore of New Zealand’s South Island (besides Dunedin). In the early days of trade, all good had to be hauled over the Port Hills. Since 1867 a railway tunnel (New Zealand’s oldest by the way) connects the city with the port. In 1964, the road tunnel was opened.

During my 2010 study-abroad semester at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, I took a bus into Lyttelton and hiked via Lyttelton Scenic Reserve and Bridle Path back to the Christchurch Gondola Station on the city side of the Port Hills. On that day, I took the pictures below to which I later applied a tilt shift effect with Photoshop. This article is titled “Tribute to Lyttelton” for a good reason.

On September 4th, 2010 at 4:35 am local time, the Canterbury region was struck by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake. Despite widespread damage in Christchurch and the surrounding area, luckily, there were no fatalities to report which were directly related to the earthquake. Authorities said that this was mainly due to the time the quake hit – most people were off the streets asleep at their homes. Aftershocks continued to rattle the Canterbury region and especially Christchurch and its suburbs.

The largest aftershock so far – and I hope it won’t get worse – happened on Feburary 22, 2011 when a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck the Canterbury region at 12:51 pm. It was centred 2 kilometres west of the town of Lyttelton, and 10 kilometres south-east of the centre of Christchurch. Unfortunately, this aftershock hit the city in the middle of a busy working day. Many (historic) buildings in the CBD and Christchurch’s suburbs were damaged beyond repair or completely collapsed. Sadly, 181 people lost their lives.

Another magnitude 6.3 earthquake rattled the shaken city of Christchurch on June 13, 2011 at 2:20 pm. It destroyed some buildings and caused additional damage to many structures affected by previous earthquakes. After the spire of the Christchurch Cathedral collapsed in the previous quake, the tower of Lyttelton’s famous timeball station was destroyed completely in this one. A number of people suffered injuries but nobody died in direct relation to the earthquake.

I’m feeling very lucky to have been able to visit this great place in all its pre-quake beauty. I left New Zealand in mid July 2010, just a little over a month before the first quake. Without knowing it, this was a lucky “escape” because what’s a month in the perspective hundreds, thousands, millions of years of tectonic activity? Despite all this, some day I will definitely go back to this amazing place – shaky or not, it doesn’t matter.