Dave, Here are a couple of photos from a happier time in Cathedral Square.
https://picasaweb.google.com/115638976374047590388/NewZealand02#4992787337964748818 https://picasaweb.google.com/115638976374047590388/NewZealand02#4992787344433676306 It was a magnificent place and city. I hope it returns soon. Regards, Bob S. On Wed, Dec 7, 2011 at 3:39 AM, David Mann <[email protected]> wrote: > I wouldn't normally post a gallery this size but this one's a bit of a > special case for me. > > The authorities have opened up a walkway along Colombo St from Cashel Mall to > Cathedral Square. This is still within the cordoned-off red zone in the CBD > and I was surprised to see them suddenly announce this out of the blue a few > weeks ago. > > They are limiting the number of people in the area at any one time, and there > are signs up giving warnings that it is not 100% safe in there. They tell > you to carry ID on your person (ie not in a bag) so if a large aftershock > hits and you're crushed by falling debris it's much easier to formally > identify your body. Sounds a bit morbid but one must be practical in the > circumstances. > > They are also limiting it to weekends only and they have people patrolling > the other side of the fence to make sure nobody goes further than they > should. The fences are fairly restrictive and we were limited to quite a > small area in the centre of the square. > > Anyway, we went in last Sunday to have a look. It's only a small part of the > red zone but Cathedral Square is the centre of our city and the Cathedral > itself is our iconic landmark. So I think it's important to a lot of people > to have this opportunity to get in and see it for real after being locked out > for 9 months. > > Taking photos was a bit of a struggle because I had to stretch to reach over > the wire fences and still see the viewfinder. Those people with small point > & shoot cameras were easily able to poke their little lenses through the wire > fence :) > > It was quite moving being in there and seeing it all up close. I've seen so > many photos showing the state of various buildings but it just doesn't > compare to seeing it in person. As such I will probably go on one of the bus > tours to see more of the red zone. > > I've tried to annotate the photos with as much info about the fate of the > various buildings as I can remember. > > And, at long last, the link :) > http://www.multi.net.nz/cbd-dec-2011/ > > Cheers, > Dave > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
