Fashion writer Amy Parsons-King and her daughters are thriving in their St Clair setting, two years after fearing for their lives during the first major Christchurch earthquake.
Ms Parsons-King (32) was feeding newborn daughter Frankie when she heard ‘‘the most horrible sound'' and was thrown to the floor in the early hours of September 4, 2010.
‘‘My partner was literally praying for our lives, we couldn't stand or walk. I had never been in a big earthquake before and I thought that was it, I was going to die,'' she said.
Moving to Dunedin after the February 2011 earthquake was a huge relief, Ms Parsons-King said.
‘‘We were sick of living in a constant state of anxiety.
‘‘Our house was quite bad, we had no power, no water and all the drains had burst so there was silt and liquefaction everywhere,'' she said.
With a grandmother in Mosgiel, Ms Parsons-King chose to head south in search of a better life.
Within a few months she found a house in St Clair and some part-time work.
Ms Parsons-King said her eldest daughter, Lily-Rose, was well settled at St Peter Chanel School in Green Island and returning to Christchurch was not on the agenda.
‘‘The girls are so happy here. They love it. They especially love it that the ground doesn't shake,'' she said.
Despite being born and raised in Christchurch, Ms Parsons-King was not compelled to return.
Many of her friends had also left the city.
Dunedin was still not quite ‘‘home'', but would be with time, she said.
‘‘Having to start from scratch has been really difficult, but we are getting there.''
