They were out of 91 octane petrol by 8.30pm at the Rakaia service station, but the long queue of motorists desperate to leave Christchurch yesterday didn't care.
''I'll take anything as long as it's fuel,'' one man said.
They told a familiar story of a terrifying day.
For a former Wanaka couple who declined to be named, it was time to go back.
The couple and their two daughters were not sure how long they would be away; in fact they were not even sure if they would be able to move back into their Fendalton home.
Puffing on her first cigarette for decades, the woman, in her 40s, said she had her children ''and a clean pair of undies'' and nothing else mattered.
She and her husband were at home when the earthquake struck.
They made a ''mad dash'' into the central city to pick up their daughters from their school.
''We had to abandon the car near Christchurch Hospital and run about 2km across the park. Traffic was too bad.''
When they got to the school, the children were not there. They had been evacuated to a rallying point at Hagley Park.
Despite the initial shock of not finding her children at school, the woman said she was grateful they had been evacuated.
''Most of the teachers have children themselves and didn't know where they were, but they looked after our children. It was a bloody gutsy effort.''
The family had moved to Christchurch only about a month before the September earthquake, her husband said.
After a ''diabolical'' day, he said he was not sure they would be back.
They were heading back to Wanaka last night.
Warren King and his family were heading for Timaru.
''Our house [in Mt Pleasant] is totalled. We weren't even allowed back inside.
''He said EQC staff went into the house and got food, bedding and nappies for the Kings' 3-week-old child, an act Mr King called ''awesome''.
One of the few people heading north was Duncan McLay, of Dunedin, heading to Christchurch to his distressed wife, Sandra, and their home and food equipment shop in Moorhouse Ave.
