Mark and Dianne Keeman

We spent some happy times with our friends the Keemans at their home near Timaru. Mark is a remarkable builder and he has created a very comfortable home from an old country school building. We had not seen the Mark and Dianne since we left Launceston to live in Israel in January 1999, so it was wonderful to spend time with them on our return journey to Tasmania.

We visit Maureen and Terry Rooney

We visited our friends Maureen and Terry Rooney at Livingstone which is situated a little further south from Timaru. Noel and Maureen taught together in the early 1960s in Tasmania.

We sail to the South Island

We left out hire car at the Aotea Quay on Wellington Harbour and boarded the ferry to take a trip over to the south island. It was a very comfortable trip over to Picton where we arrived late in the afternoon. We collected another hire car and made our way to a motel in Kaikoura which we had booked before hand. The owners of the motel cooked us a delicious dinner. They had warmed our room so we had a very comfortable night in a cosy room. When we woke and looked out our motel room window we saw the spectacular sight of the Kaikoura mountains glistening in the snow.

The Botanical Gardens

The Cable Car

We enjoyed the ride on the cable car. At the top we visited the Cable Car museum. I phoyographed some of the images of earlier cable cars.

A day in Wellington with Lorraine

We spent the day in Wellington with Lorraine and Rebecca. We explored some of the old buildings as we walked through part of the city. We also took the cable car up the mountain to the Botanical Gardens which gave us a beautiful view of the harbour.

Some family photographs

Wellington Museum

We travlled into Wellington to visit the Museum. There was an excellent exhibition of the work of Constable on show. We aslo enjoyed visiting the exhibitions about the history of New Zealand. Noel and I were very impressed with the new Wellington Museum.

We also enjoyed a walk along the waterfront where there are interesting old buildings and sculptures.

At work in the kitchen

Lorraine, Rebecca and Caro prepared dinner for the family. We had a lot of laughs and we exchanged information about many of the other people who had been pupils of our little primary school in the 70s and 80s.

A visit to the beach at Pukerua Bay

After lunch we went for a walk down to the beach with the children. It was cool and very windy but it was a very refreshing adventure and the boys had lots of fun.

Coffee with Lorraine and Caro at 'Ruby'

During the morning, Noel and I went for a drive with Lorraine and Caro. We visited an interesting little shop called 'Short Poppy' that sold collectables where I found a few old postcards to add to my collection.
We then went to 'Ruby' Coffee shop where we had nice coffees and delicious cakes.