The ladder was stored in the west porch of Christ Church Cathedral for safekeeping when the February 22, 2011, earthquake hit. It has been there ever since because of the extensive damage to the building.
Eleven years later, the team working on the cathedral gained access to the west porch and retrieved the distinctive wooden ladder which they returned to The Wizard.
The Wizard said he often wondered about the fate of his ladder.
"Glimpsing the heavily-corseted nave of the battered theatrical backdrop to my strutting and preaching for two score years, my thoughts would regularly rise to the fate of my constant companion, my ladder," he said.
"Was she smashed to smithereens?
"Had she been kidnapped by a souvenir hunter?
"My hope was that by some miracle she was still there and waiting for me to reclaim her."
He was overjoyed to have the ladder back in his possession.
"Words cannot express the joy I felt when the cathedral restorers made contact to inform me she had been found in her usual place, in the porch, only a little discoloured by age and still decorated with flowers from the Anglican Floral Festival," The Wizard said.
Christ Church Cathedral Reinstatement Project director Keith Paterson was pleased to return the ladder to its rightful owner.
"The retrieval of heritage fabric and personal items is an important part of the project," Paterson said.
