Two families on either side of the Avon River in Christchurch packed their possessions yesterday as they said their final farewells to their ever-shrinking neighbourhoods.
"The way I look at it is that there are always people worse off than you," Dallington resident Kerry Wilson (35) told the Otago Daily Times in the middle of moving her home.
The close-knit community, views of the Avon River and proximity to local schools for their four daughters, aged between 5 and 15, made the suburb a desirable location.
However, while ducks continue to float on the river, all is not calm underneath.
Massive earthmoving machines, sandbags, portaloos and sagging or collapsed houses line once picturesque Locksley Ave.
Quake damage and the loss of essential services for weeks at a time have forced household after household to cut their ties to the area, with just five families remaining out of the dozens who used to live here.
"It does feel like a ghost town," Ms Wilson said.
Yesterday, the family of six joined the exodus from the street, moving to a rented home also in the red residential zone.
"We just have nowhere else to go. The home is OK though, but the land underneath it isn't."
The girls' education remains the couple's priority, but they admit their schools will be hit by a rapid decline in their rolls, following confirmation the Government will buy out hundreds of houses in the area.
The September earthquake alone caused more than $280,000 damage to the brick home, which is owned by Ms Wilson's Sydney-based sister, who has spent thousands doing up the property since the 2007 valuation.
"It is a horrible feeling to know this beautiful area will never be the same again," Ms Wilson said.
Despite their situation, the couple maintain they will stay in Christchurch before deciding where to buy eventually.
"You just feel so sad from all this. You just keep on thinking 'surely it has to be over now'."
Across the river in Avonside Dr, in a suburb bearing the same name, Phil Wenn (58) is talking on his cellphone as removal men empty his home of the past three years.
Confirmation his home was in the red residential zone made no difference to Mr Wenn and wife Robyn, who were the first paid out by their insurer, Westpac, and to have bought a new home.
They moved to their new Parklands property on Thursday, and Mr Wenn said he enjoyed his best sleep in months, knowing the house had been "checked and rechecked by engineers".
"It is a better house but we don't have the view."
Mr Wenn welcomed the Government's decision to buy quake-affected homes, but said those going through the process would struggle to buy sections under $260,000, and would face increasing competition to buy existing homes.
The couple's insurance allowed them to buy a new house, but they needed to buy one at least of the same value or lose the difference.
"You have to spend it all or spend more.""We can't moan about the EQC or insurance company - we are very happy. I know there has been some frustration from people but the Government's decision will help them."
