So why we the stores so quiet? Do people have no money due to inflation/cost of living etc? Are they sick and staying home? Are they sheltering at home, and going out is no longer something they do as often? Or have people moved to buying online?

I notice here in #ŌtautahiChristchurch that Northwood is about to lose even more shops as TheWarehouse group pulls out.

Hey #ŌtautahiChristchurch people, every time I pop out I see lots of ambulances. Went to the local shops - i was driving about 20 minutes - 3 ambulances. Same last week and 4 the time before. I’ve lived here 20 years and never seen so many. Anyone else noticed it?

Day 6 of this cold thing. Half way down my second big box of tissues. Will do another rat test later. Fed up of coughing, feeling tired, my ribs hurting from coughing, and my nose being sore from blowing. About to take meds for the headache.
Staying home.
#WearAMask
#ŌtautahiChristchurch

With apologies to friends in the North Island, we've had a bit of rain in Ōtautahi-Christchurch, NZ, this weekend. There's even (small) waterfalls in Purau Reserve in the Cashmere hills. Waterfalls and Christchurch are not usually in the same sentence.

It's on wet weekends like this that I appreciate all the water retention wetlands that have been constructed around the city recently. They're doing a great job of soaking up excess rain and reducing flooding.

#rain #nz #OtautahiChristchurch

Family member caught a cold - it’s only a cold. But it’s gone through the rest of the family. But I haven’t had a cold like this for a very long time - raging sore throat, headache, going through a box of tissues in a day, coughing. Couldn’t sleep last night.
Negative rat tests.

Chch people ypu don’t want this even though it’s *only* a cold.
#WearAMask
#ŌtautahiChristchurch

It’s weird to hear people complain of freezing fog and temperatures in the minus when we don’t even have a frost - just a few kilometres away. Very mild night.
#ŌtautahiChristchurch

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/canterbury/300922523/cera-duo-avoid-prison-after-abuse-of-power-in-postquake-christchurch

#ŌtautahiChristchurch

@BobReynard
My summer roses - blooming in winter -but looking a bit different than they do in summer.
#ŌtautahiChristchurch

The next few days have even higher tides. Currently there’s a 1.5 m ‘cliff’ in the dunes! What will it be tomorrow?
#ŌtautahiChristchurch
#beach

I’m in north Chch but didn’t hear anything. Friend in Kaiapoi heard it.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/132238216/mystery-explosion-sound-heard-through-north-canterbury

What was it?
#ŌtautahiChristchurch

I know #Aotearoa #NewZealand has an active #SnowAdvisory, but this #Minnesota girl is facing a local #HeatAdvisory and a heat-averse teenager who is wishing we were heading to see #whanau in #OtautahiChristchurch as we did last #July4th.

Last night was the annual fireworks display from the New Brighton Pier in Ōtautahi-Christchurch, NZ. It was an amazing, still, moonlit evening, and it seemed like half the city was there on the beach to watch.

I just uploaded my favourite photos to Flickr. Here is a selection.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mollivan_jon/

#fireworks #nz #NewBrightonPier #OtautahiChristchurch #colours

Perfect day for a #bicycle ride across #OtautahiChristchurch to the estuary and beyond

@seawall I've had luck with French and Japanese but haven't even tried Mexican in #OtautahiChristchurch ...

@aligorith Here's the Christchurch City Council's map and guide to Watling's Track: https://www.ccc.govt.nz/parks-and-gardens/explore-parks/port-hills/ohinetahi/watlings-track/
#ŌtautahiChristchurch #PortHills #AotearoaNZ

@aligorith I hear miromiro more often than I see them. They will sometimes approach to a high pitched "pishing" noise.
They're more common further west in the Port Hills, like in Ohinetahi Bush and Omahu Bush. For example, there's a steep zig-zag track down Watlings track from Summit Road into Ohinetahi Bush where I usually find several miromiro.
Plus, the adults have bright orange feet!
Here's Watlings track forest:
https://flic.kr/p/26rbr2Q
#ŌtautahiChristchurch #PortHills #birds #AotearoaNZ

It's Blo-Karting! What better thing to do when there's a strong nor'easterly blowing in Ōtautahi-Christchurch. I found out about this place yesterday afternoon at the Xmas end-of-year do for the company my wife works at. It all happens off Pages Road in Bexley, and it's lots of fun. Definitely recommended.

https://www.velocitykarts.nz/

#ŌtautahiChristchurch #AotearoaNZ #fun #WindPower #transport #blokart

@KiwiNikki Absolutely! Lichens are amazing. I can't count lichens from my bike, but I've been working through the lichens in our garden. I'm up to 15 species so far on #iNaturalistNZ, with big thanks to local lichen expert Melissa Hutchison for making most of the IDs. Melissa has found 20 different lichen species in her Ōtautahi-Christchurch garden.
#lichen #ŌtautahiChristchurch #iNaturalist
https://inaturalist.nz/observations?place_id=150600&project_id=lichens-of-nz&verifiable=any

Here's part of the recording I made of the singing korimako (NZ bellbird) along the Port Hills Summit Road. Have a listen! This is one of several distinctly different dialects along the Port Hills. I get as many recordings as I can, to track where birds with the different dialects are found, and how their songs are changing over time.
#ŌtautahiChristchurch #birdsong #birds #nz

Today I biked the long way to work (40 km), which I do once a month to monitor wildlife and plants. Here I stopped to record korimako (bellbirds) song--that's a microphone on my bike.
While stopped, I found some Canterbury copper butterflies (currently undescribed Lycaena species) on a patch of their host plant, Muehlenbeckia australis.
#nature #monitoring #butterfly #ŌtautahiChristchurch #NZ