US resident Susan diRende had just arrived in New Zealand's South Island when a 7.8 earthquake struck on Sunday night.
"I had just arrived (in New Zealand) about a week before, and I came to the South Island the day before the earthquake," she told SBS.
"I picked up the car from Picton, and I had driven to Kaikoura - and I had my plans shaken up."
Ms diRende had intended to spend Sunday night in Kaikoura before touring around the South Island for two weeks.
But around midnight the ground started to shake. At first, the former Californian resident wasn't concerned.
"I felt the earth start to shake and then it continued, and it was so rough I couldn't walk to the door," she said.
US tourist Susan diRende. (Facebook/Susan diRende) Source: Facebook
"So I did what they say and I went onto the floor by the bed and waited for a long time. There was nothing else I could do - I wasn't really panicking, but I couldn't go outside and I couldn't stand, so I just stayed put - in a protected crouch by my bed."
When the shaking finally stopped, Ms diRende went outside along with many other residents and tourists, but the drama was not over yet.
The next worry was a potential tsunami.
"They said 'get in your car, get in your car and get to high ground', and I thought 'sh--'," she said.
"I just put on my coat and shoes and went. The Civil Defence did not let us come down until mid-morning... so I slept in my car."
Ms diRende said the hardest thing on the night of the earthquake, and since, was the uncertainty of what was going to happen.
"We didn't have service and I had a car but I didn't know what to listen to [for information] on the radio," she said.
"Fortunately there was a Kiwi family there who were giving information and they gave me a blanket so I didn't freeze, because it got very cold."
In the days since, the New Zealand government has mobilised the defence force to drop supplies to towns like Kaikoura that have been completely cut-off from the rest of the South Island.
On Tuesday they also started airlifting tourists out of Kaikoura in helicopter loads of six or eight at a time.
Ms diRende said families with children, the elderly and people with medical problems had been evacuated first, and other people had waited all day only to be disappointed.
She said the power returned on Tuesday, along with limited mobile phone reception, but there was still no running water or sewerage.
"There have been a couple of fairly large aftershocks last night - noticeably large - and there were a couple of aftershocks after the earthquake that were concentrated on Kaikoura," she said.
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"The town looks in great shape. There are telephone poles akimbo, and you look in homes and shops and everything is on the floor. But by and large the town withstood it.
"It's more a human and logistical problem."
Ms diRende was full of praise for the way the local New Zealanders responded to the earthquake damage and the inevitable strain a large number of stranded tourists placed on the town's damaged infrastructure.
"The hospitality has been enormous," she said.
"I'm so grateful I was (like) a refugee in a first world country, but still it's hard.
"They have been so patient with us and so extremely generous with their time and resources even though they're running short."
Ms diRende hopes to be able to leave Kaikoura on Wednesday on one of the two ships due to evacuate more tourists from the town.
She will then continue her trip around New Zealand.
