NEW ZEALAND: Interview with Karyn Van Der Zwet

NEW ZEALAND: Interview with Karyn Van Der Zwet

Where in the world do you live?

I live in Napier, on the sunny east coast of the North Island of New Zealand. After a major (7.8) earthquake in 1931 the centre of Napier was rebuilt in the styles of Art Deco and Art Nouveau and has become something of a tourist destination. http://www.artdeconapier.com/

There are plenty of wineries around too. 🙂 http://www.hawkesbaynz.com/Visit/Wine–Food/

(Come in February – the kids are back in school and the weather is warm and settled.)

And, are you from there?

I grew up in a country area called Tutira, 50km north of the city, on a sheep farm that my Dad managed. There were 75 kids in the school and 9 in my year group. I had to go to weekly boarding school, here in Napier, for my high-school years from the age of 12. (more…)

Karyn Wills

Karyn is a teacher, writer and solo mother to three sons. She lives in the sunny wine region of Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand in the city of Napier.

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NEW ZEALAND: Christchurch: Looking Forward One Month After the Quake

NEW ZEALAND: Christchurch: Looking Forward One Month After the Quake

At 4.35am, on the 4th September 2010, the city of Christchurch in New Zealand’s South Island was hit by an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale.

It’s epicentre was close to the township of Darfield, 40 km (25 miles) west of Christchurch. There was widespread damage and power outages, two people were seriously injured and one person died from a heart-attack during the quake.

Originally I wrote here: anyone who lives along the Pacific Ring of Fire might have thought, “that could have been us.”  90% of all the world’s earthquakes and 80% of  all major earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire, which extends from New Zealand through Indonesia and the Phillipines, through Japan along the Aleutian Islands and along the west coast of the Americas.

Then, on the 11th of March just off the coast of Japan a huge (8.9 )earthquake hit. The tsunami it triggered killed at least ten thousand people, and injured many more. It caused massive damage to the northeastern coast of the country. Perhaps more than anyone else in the world, people in Christchurch understood and empathised. (more…)

Karyn Wills

Karyn is a teacher, writer and solo mother to three sons. She lives in the sunny wine region of Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand in the city of Napier.

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