This short article shares some images of construction en route to Kaikoura New Zealand. Sometimes conditions dictate unusual shooting conditions – like photographing one handed while driving. While our photographs may not be stellar in these situations, the life memories they help preserve for us can be priceless.
NOTE: Click on images to enlarge.
My wife and I were in New Zealand on November 14, 2016 when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the South Island in the Kaikoura area. The quake was centred about 15 kilometres (~9 miles) north-east of the town of Culverton.
At the time of the earthquake we were in a motel in Matamata on the North Island. While we didn’t feel the tremors from the earthquake which struck just before 3 AM, other people in the immediate area did.
The earthquake killed two people and caused significant damage in the Kaikoura area, including closing State Highway 1. At the time, we had to change our travel plans as Kaikoura was made inaccessible.
Massive rock slides along State Highway 1 resulted from the earthquake. A huge reconstruction effort ensued.
State Highway 1 remained closed for 13 months after the earthquake. It reopened shortly before our spring 2018 visit to the South Island of New Zealand.
The images in this article were captured on March 29, 2018 as we drove southward from Havelock en route to our motel in Kaikoura. If you look at some of the details on the hillsides in the photograph above, you’ll see large sections of steel mesh and cabling that were put in place to reduce the risk of rock falls and slides.
When we read about natural disasters happening around the globe, few of us ever get the chance to see some of the aftermath firsthand. Being able to photograph construction en route to Kaikoura will forever cement many memories of our journeys to New Zealand.
Technical Note:
All photographs in this article were captured hand-held using camera gear as per the EXIF data. All images were produced from RAW files using my standard process of DxO PhotoLab, CS6 and the Nik Collection.
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