We visit Lorraine Gray

Lorraine lives at Pukerua Bay, near Wellington. We have known Lorraine since the late 70s when she was involved with the independent primary school that Noel and I established in the mid 70s in Launceston. Although she returned with her two daughters to live in New Zealand, we have kept on close contact ever since. Lorraine very kindly invited Noel and I to stay with her during our quick trip to New Zealand. We also met Lorraine's mother, Doreen.
Rebecca, Caro and her husband James and their 3 boys all came to visit too ... so it was a very busy household over the weekend.

We visit Mangonui

We enjoyed out visit to this historic, picturesque township 36 km north-east of Kaitāia, on Doubtless Bay. The settlement and Taipā coast had a combined population of 1,587 in 2001.

Mangonui became a favoured haven for whalers from the early 1800s. The township then grew as a trading port where kauri logs were milled and prepared for export. Farming started slowly too. By the 1860s Mangonui was the administrative centre for the far north with government offices, hotels, a hospital, and coastal shipping links with Auckland.

Gum digging and flax milling boosted growth in the 19th century, but after 1900 kauri and gum business shifted west to Kaitāia. The administrative centre followed in 1918 and the hospital in 1934. Disappearance of the old industries and better roading led to Mangonui’s decline as a coastal shipping port in the 1950s.

We had a delicious lunch of fish and chips by the Bay before we went for a walk following a history trail around the town to see some of the beautiful old buildings.

We visit Jo Hill at Kaeo, New Zealand

After flying from Vancouver via Los Angeles to Auckland, we rented a car and drove 5 hours north to visit Jo Hill at her beautiful home at Kaeo. The views of the coast and landscape from Jo's home are simply spectacular. Jo prepared a delicious meal of fresh scallops for us. She took us for a tour around some of her land where she is establishing a beautiful parkland of NZ native plants. Later, we also walked on a couple of beautiful beaches that are located close by.

We have lunch with Maurice and Joyce Knight

Today we met up with Maurice and Joyce Knight. Maurice very kindly collected us from Kim's place and drove us to his home for lunch. I had not seen Maurice since 1958 when he was my Geography teacher at Burnie High School. It was wonderful to actually meet him again and to talk about some of the people we remember from the Burnie High days. I reconnected with him through a family history internet list that we both subscribe to for information on Tasmanian family history. We spent several very interesting hours with Maurice and Joyce and the lunch was delicious.

Heidi at Nanaimo

Heidi and her husband who live at Nanaimo invited us to join them for the evening meal. I had not seen Heidi since 1992 when Kim was living in Kitimat so it was nice to spend time with Heidi and her husband. After dinner we drove to a very nice B & B where we stayed for the night.

Chemainus

We spent some time visiting the town of Chemainus which is famous for the 36 large murals that have been painted by various artists on the exterior walls of many of the buildings. The murals depict the history of the area. There are also several large sculptures located in various parts of the commercial centre of the town too.

Maxwell Baha'i School

We asked Kim if we could stop off at Maxwell School for a short visit to see if a friend from our days in Haifa was there. As it turned out she was! It was just great to meet up with Patricia Peters again. we had not seen her for at least 6 years. Patricia very kindly offered to show us around the main buildings of the school. As we were being shown around the school we were surprised to be greeted by several other friends including Kath Podger from Sydney as well as other folk we had met in Haifa and in Cyprus. Amazing connections!

We continue north

On the way north, we continued to climb in altitude that gave us great views across the water towards Salt Spring Island where Kim spent some of her childhood.

We travel north

We stopped off to have some lunch at a shady roadside park/ reserve that is also adjacent to a stream frequented by salmon. The trees overhanging the stream added beauty to the site.

Off to Vancouver Island

Today we took the ferry with Kim to Vancouver Island. It was a beautiful trip and we spent a lot of time out on the deck enjoying the views of the islands and other sea craft that sailed past during our journey