New Zealand

[john e. holliday]

Seen on the internet New Zealand got hit hard with an earth quake.   Hope all are doing okay.  They let this old man join them at the opening ceremony banquet in 2004 in Muncie IN.

[Wynn Robins]

Hey Doc,

Massive damage to the top of the south island - mostly rural however so that was fortunate.   Kaikoura is cut off completely however so only helicopter access to drop supplies in to the folks there.  

Some amazing pictures of the damage are on the web  see the one below as an example

we felt the second quake in Hamilton which is around 700 odd kilometres away from the epicentre - so it was a BIG one.  

fortunately not too many deaths - only 2 recorded....which is 2 too many

[Brad LaPointe]

Some combat flyers, the Palmers farm west of CHCH I hope they are OK . I can't really remember exactly where as Bryce the Kiwi F2D pilot was driving. As a farm boy the countryside was too much for for me to drive and gawk.

Bryce really disliked mynah birds .As much as he tried he never managed to get a mynah bird during the trip  . Hitting a mynah with a very old Toyota 4x4 van is much tougher than getting a cut in combat . The Kiwis have a knack of making the most out of any situation.

Brad