Quake - a year on: Christchurch to Darwin and back again

The Jordan family home in Diamond Harbour suffered about $90,000 worth of damage in the February 22 earthquake.

"All our windows and doors shattered in February and it just didn't feel safe," Kalena Jordan says.

"We have a seven-year-old boy and his room was the worst. Looking at that [damage] everyday, we just didn't feel safe."

On March 10, the family upped sticks and moved to Darwin.

"My husband Gerry got offered a job in Darwin within two days of the quake. We thought, alright, let's go."

But Darwin was "too hot", Kalena laughs.

"The people were lovely, the city is quite clean and everything else but it was too hot for us. We are used to Christchurch.

"After the shock had worn off and we recovered from the post-traumatic stress, the idea of moving back home started creeping in. We decided we wanted to get back to New Zealand."

She says the family was not quite sure whether to return to Christchurch and considered a move to Wellington. But the pull of Christchurch was too strong.

"We thought we would come back and have a look around, because we hadn't been back for nearly a year. We were just super impressed with all the progress that had been made and the attitude of people. All our friends and family are here, and the aftershocks weren't too bad.

"We just thought we'd come home and make a fresh start in new Christchurch."

Late last month the family moved back into their old home.

"It's nice to be back. My son is really excited about being back at the same school with his old friends. Everyone is just getting on with it.

"I think we just needed that space, to get away and deal with the shock and make sure we had the right mindset to come back and start again. I guess it was just a bit too hard at first, dealing with so much damage and the stress on top of everything. Moving back just was not an option for a long time."

The couple are working on their own internet marketing company, while Gerry is also working part-time as a grief counsellor. Kalena is positive about the future of their city.

"One of our big fears was the work in progress wouldn't be enough when we got back, that when we got back we would have to be in limbo for another couple of years.

"We were quite shocked with what has been done during our absence. We went for a drive around and had a look, the amount of building and construction work going on is just phenomenal."