Quake victims take Rotorua break

Kara Smythe has escaped the devastation of the Canterbury earthquake and is looking forward to spending a month with family in Rotorua.
The 25-year-old Christchurch woman and her daughters Dayshana, 6, and Leilani, 4, have been left homeless as a result of the September 4 earthquake.
Miss Smythe was renting the Pines Beach home from her mother Erina Fiddler, who moved to Rotorua 18 months ago.
The home has been red-stickered and is no longer safe to live in.
Miss Smythe was at home with her partner and two children when the magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck.
"We just felt the earth shake and jumped out of bed. It was wicked. I stood in the doorway. The power was out. I just felt the whole home shake."
Miss Smythe grabbed her daughters, who had been woken by the earthquake, but they couldn't get the front door open as it was jammed. A friend who was staying jumped out of the window and booted the door down.
They jumped in their cars and left the area.
Miss Smythe returned to her house the next day to find the destruction.
"The floor in the kitchen had been split and there was a lot of water and sewage in the kitchen. The house has moved back."
She could not push the bedroom door open as the floor was warped and had jammed. The chimney had fallen into the neighbour's property.
The only parts of the house that escaped unscathed were the bathroom and a sleepout.
Her house was among six of eight homes on her street which had been red-stickered.
"It's really devastating. It's not a nice way to be moved out of your house. It's definitely the worst experience of my life."
The hardest part for her was not being able to go home.
"I've had a few cries."
Miss Smythe wants to go back to Christchurch but doesn't think she will go back to Pines Beach, despite loving the area.
She said her daughters, particularly Leilani, had been struggling and were keeping close to her.
Dayshana said when the earthquake struck she thought it was the young boy kicking the wall in the next room.
"I didn't know what an earthquake was ... It's muddy in the kitchen and when you go in the bathroom it feels like you are walking up."
Miss Smythe said she had been scared having a shower and driving her car just in case there was another big earthquake.
She was grateful for the support from the Civil Defence team in Kaiapoi who had given her food, a grant of $500 and put out portaloos on every street.
Mrs Fiddler was upset about the state of the house. New carpet had been put in, as well as a new kitchen, new oven and new bathroom. "It has been the family home for 12 years."
She said she was just happy she had insurance and her daughter had contents insurance. She had nothing but praise for the efforts her insurer had gone to since the quake.
She was still waiting to hear what would happen to the property.
Miss Smythe and her children spent the last week staying with friends in Kaiapoi before they flew to Rotorua on Sunday and they planned to spend a month here.
"I'm in no rush to go back down there."