Our View: Time to take a well earned breather

It's no surprise Rotorua has a long list of events and activities lined up for Easter weekend - it's one of our busiest times of the year.
It's a time when friends and families from out of town drop in for rest and relaxation and to experience what Rotorua is renowned for.
From Good Friday, when the long weekend begins, visitors will descend upon the city to sharpen their mountainbiking skills and soak in the hot pools. Maori performers will likely play a part somewhere because that's another part of New Zealand life Rotorua is good at.
Rotorua's hospitality still won't be able to extend a full welcome to visitors who'd like to spend money in town all weekend though. Easter trading in Rotorua is still lagging behind other similar centres because of political support that has refused to repeal legislation.
While retail therapy will be ready-for-action on Saturday, shops will be closed on Easter Sunday and won't open on Easter Monday until 1pm because it's also Anzac Day.
That should give plenty of time to consider and observe aspects of faith commemorating why Easter remains an important period on the calendar.
Most of us can consider ourselves fortunate to be having a four-day holiday and should spare a thought for others experiencing Easter in less than usual circumstances.
In Christchurch, the clean-up after the second big earthquake on February 22 is still a very big job, and aftershocks are reminding residents there, and us, of the occasional force of nature.
Except for the nearby Edgecumbe earthquake in the 1980s, Rotorua hasn't experienced a great upheaval since the eruption of Mt Tarawera in 1886. The greater landscape was changed then - including the destruction of the famous Pink and White Terraces, and the dislocation of the Tuhourangi sub-tribe at Tarawera.
We can feel some empathy to what Christchurch is experiencing to rebuild at this time - and we can also show a depth of gratitude and appreciation to the feat of local organisers of Te Ru o te Manawa. Top kapa haka groups from Te Arawa, including Tuhourangi and Ngati Wahiao, and beyond were able to raise more than $100,000 toward the Christchurch earthquake fund. It's an important local gesture from performers who included descendants of some who were displaced after the Tarawera devastation so many years ago.
And if that isn't enough, there will be more of us with other connections to Christchurch - probably family or social - who have given time or money to support the quake-torn cause.
Rotorua can enjoy Easter knowing it has done its part to ease and comfort the lives of others; and there will probably be a lot in store for hosting this occasion.