Locals sell home in trip to quake zone

A promotional visit to earthquake-ravaged Christchurch over Labour weekend may have secured some sales for a Wanganui real estate firm, but it also helped dispel a few misconceptions some southerners have of the River City.

Jamie Doble, principal, of The Professionals-Coull Battell Ltd, made the trip with two others of his sales team and he said it had been "excellent".

They spent the Saturday and Sunday of the long weekend at the Palms shopping mall in the suburb of Shirley. The mall suffered major damage in the February earthquake.

"We spoke to an awful lot of people in those two days," Mr Doble said.

"We've probably five or six families who have indicated they're really keen to come here and at least have a look over the city. Another person, originally from Wanganui, said they wanted to come home," he said.

He said the mall was on the fringe of some of the hardest-hit inner-city areas.

"The area around the mall was very badly affected. You could still see areas where liquefaction had occurred," Mr Doble said. "I'd go for a run in the mornings and some of the damage I saw was simply unbelievable."

He said the Wanganui District Council had been helpful, giving the sales team a big banner featuring the Whanganui River to display in Christchurch.

"Some of the people we spoke to thought Wanganui was a dying place, but we put them right . In fact, we turned the perceptions of quite a few people.

"There may not be any houses sold as a result of our visit but, if nothing else, we were able to give people a better impression of Wanganui," Mr Doble said.