Rock fetches $44 000 for NZ victims

This picture taken on February 25, 2011 shows a house smashed in half by a large boulder which fell off the Port Hills overlooking Rapaki near Christchurch.

This picture taken on February 25, 2011 shows a house smashed in half by a large boulder which fell off the Port Hills overlooking Rapaki near Christchurch.

Published Mar 7, 2011

Share

Wellington - A boulder that wrecked a Christchurch house in last month's magnitude-6.3 earthquake has raised 60 050 New Zealand dollars ($44 265) for victims of the disaster, news reports said on Monday.

The boulder, estimated to weigh 25 to 30 tons, was put up for sale on the Trade Me internet auction site by Phil Johnson after smashing into his home in suburban Heathcote when it was dislodged by the February 22 quake from an overlooking hill.

More than 316 000 people logged on in the past week to the site to view “Rocky - suitable for garden feature, or as in our case a magnificent addition to your living area,” as Johnson wrote, before it was taken down Monday.

Trade Me spokesman Paul Ford said a North Island buyer who offered 10 050 New Zealand dollars was initially told he had won the auction. It was then confirmed that a bid of 50 000 New Zealand dollars by NZSki Ltd, which had been removed under suspicion it was a hoax, was in fact genuine.

Ford said an agreement was reached between the three parties that NZSki, which manages commercial ski fields, would pay 50 000 New Zealand dollars for the rock while the other bidder would still pay 10 050 New Zealand dollars and get a week's holiday for four on Norfolk Island, which was offered by a supporter.

NZSki chief executive James Coddington told The Press newspaper that the company would move Rocky to the car park at its Mount Hutt ski field.

Meanwhile, Betty McGrail, 80, was pictured on Monday sitting next to an estimated 2-ton boulder that smashed through walls of her house and landed in the lounge during the quake, which killed a confirmed 163 people in New Zealand's second-largest city although police said the final death toll would be about 220.

“It landed right by my chair,” McGrail, who fled the house when the quake started, told the New Zealand Herald. “It would have given me a bit of a fright if I'd been sitting there.

“It's sitting there quite nicely, like it's happy to be there, and no one knows how to get it out.” - Sapa-dpa

Related Topics: