First Trip to New Zealand

It had been too long. It was time, even if it meant journeying across the world. I needed to see my long lost sister.

Early in 1960 my sister Helen and her NZ husband, Jas, set off by ship for New Zealand via America, a journey that would take them about eight weeks. We had all spent Christmas with my parents in Abbeyleix and Mike and I had travelled back to Dublin with Helen and Jas and seen them off on the boat from Dun Laoghaire. Helen was pregnant and they wanted their first child to be born in NZ.

I would't see Helen again for another 21 years. One day I received a phone call from a Helen. 'Helen who?' I kept asking, not recognising the accent. Finally, it dawned on me that it was my sister, Helen! 'You have a Kiwi accent!' I exclaimed in surprise.

Their first baby had been stillborn, and there followed a traumatic period for Helen, far from home. She had suffered a thrombosis after the birth and lay ill and inconsolable for some time. Ten years were to pass before she would consider trying for another baby and only then when an Irish nurse out there promised to look after her all the way. Colin was born prematurely in April 1966 and whisked away to Auckland where he was kept in an incubator till he reached full time and Helen and Jas then set off by plane from Whakatane for Auckland to take him home. Colin was 15 and Anna was 10 when Helen asked us to visit her and she and Jas shouted us to our fare.

At first, I felt maybe Ted as the eldest would like to go but he said no and wanted us to enjoy the trip. That June, my cousin Aileen's two girls were having a joint wedding in Braunston, and Serena asked Anna to be her bridesmaid so we had a busy time preparing for the wedding in June and our trip in July. It was a lovely wedding and Mike and I sat at the reception with Uncle Bill and Aunt Aileen. We had met Ted and Elsie along the A5 for lunch on our way to Braunston. On the Sunday before our departure for NZ we met them again with Cathy and Eddie in Elvaston Country Park outside Derby and took our fond farewells and gave them a key to visit our house while we were away. I hadn't realised then that in less than a year Ted would be dead.

We travelled to Heathrow to catch our night British Airways flight direct to Auckland via Bombay, Perth and Melbourne, arriving at midday and transferring to the Domestic terminal for a 6pm domestic flight to Whakatane. In those days before terrorist threats we were able to go out on a balcony and have a close look at Concorde about to take off. The whole journey was new and exciting although 29 hours flying would be no fun. At Auckland a very tall man befriended us and told us that he was a journalist from Hamilton for a Farmer's’ journal and he took us for a walk around the airport and we saw daffodils and other spring flowers to remind us we were at the other end of the world when even the emptying bath water would swirl around in the opposite direction to back at home. Anna had been so tired that we left her sleeping on a seat at the lonely airport, something that today horrifies me. When we arrived back we found that a member of staff had laid a blanket over her.

The little plane that was on the runway ready to take us to Whakatane had seats for six passengers and the pilot and we carried our own bags aboard. Half-way across the runway Anna wanted the toilet so the pilot told me to take her back into the airport building and he'd wait for us. That was a scary journey, flying just above the ground with the lights below us visible all the way. I shut my eyes and prayed fervently that were we to crash I'd know nothing about it. After an hour we landed and again had to carry our own bags. There at the door into the building stood three figures. On seeing us walk towards them, they came to meet us. What a moment! There stood the sister I hadn't seen for over 21 years with her husband and her 15-year-old son whom we had never met. It was so emotional.

A 40-mile drive brought us to Opotiki and the dairy farm which was their home. We had gone eleven hours into the future but we soon recovered and were ready to enjoy that beautiful land. The kiwifruit growing profusely in the garden and the grapefruit that we picked fresh each morning for our breakfast were a treat. One morning I was alone in the kitchen while the others were down on the farm. Suddenly, I was frightened because the room seemed to be spinning round and the cooker was dancing on the floor. I thought I might be having a stroke but soon everyone came running up as they knew I’'d be scared. It was an earth tremor, a common occurrence in the area. Not far offshore we could see White Island with steam rising from its centre.

We had some lovely outings with Jas and Helen, including a day in Awakeri Hot Springs and a visit to Gisborne, the city on which the sun first rises in the world. Although it was winter there, Anna had a dip in the sea. One evening we headed out for a trip to the Urewera National Park. Colin and I set off into the forest along a pathway cut out of the side of the hill and walked till we reached an open space where we watched the sun go down below the horizon. It was eerie there as the area was largely unvisited by humans and long ago Maori hunters roamed the forest.At one stage I suddenly heard a loud boom, boom and I was so scared and asked Colin what it was, thinking of those ancient hunters and imagining the beating of their drums. Colin heard nothing which scared me even more. Then he suggested it was the beating of my heart echoing off the cliffs so that only I heard it. We sometimes had to wade through streams running down the hillside but on the way back it became pitch-black and we could just about feel our way along the narrow pathway. I grew ever more scared as we seemed in danger of falling into the forest below us. At long last we saw a light flickering away in the distance and that scared me more but it was Jas coming with a torch to find us as the waiting party grew anxious about our being away so long and then being caught in the pitch-darkness.

In Opotiki we visited a sacred burial ground for Maoris - Hukutaia Domain, a beautiful, peaceful area planted with rare trees including the huge puriri tree under which Maoris were buried. It was a lovely place to walk and enjoy the singing of birds and the quietness away from the bustle of modern life. The whole area was beautiful and natural and peaceful with sandy beaches and trees and rivers and hills. Helen and Jas were so happy to see how we enjoyed everything we saw.

My friend, Hazel's daughter Melissa happened to be in NZ that summer working on a forestry project for her final university studies so one day Mike and Anna and I set off for Rotorua by bus where we were to meet Melissa and spend a night with her in a motel. We attended a Maori hangi where a boar was cooked in palm leaves in a hole in the ground, and then we went on to a Maori concert in Government House. Anna was taken out front with the cast for the singing of the final song, Now is the hour when we must say Good-bye, a sad song sung by NZ servicemen as they sailed for Europe to fight alongside the Allies in two world wars. A visit to the excavated Buried village (Te Wairoa) from the eruption of Mt Tarawera was an awesome experience, and reminded me of an earlier visit to Pompei. The pungent smell of rotten eggs everywhere was, we were told, due to sulphur deposits. A morning walking through the geothermal valley was a scary experience but we wouldn't have missed it for anything. The geysers that could spout up at any time we hurried past.

Melissa hitched a lift to Opotiki on the following Saturday and stayed over the weekend. Colin took her and me up Drummond's Hill and showed us an opossum caught in a trap and when he went to kill it, she and I ran away and hit behind a tree and covered our ears. I could never work on a farm as things like that would upset me too much, like seeing the little calves being taken away to be slaughtered.

That night we went for dinner in the Masonic Hotel. What I remember most from the menu was the pavlova. The food in NZ was really good. Mike's birthday was the 29th July so we celebrated with another dinner in the Masonic after which we drove to Whakatane to watch Diana's wedding to Charles and on our arrival we were horrified to find that Mrs Eggleton, Senior, had cooked a huge dinner for us. Helen immediately kicked me and whispered 'Keep your mouth shut. Eat and say nothing!' That was one of the hardest things she could have asked of me. At the best of times I was never able to eat huge meals and two huge dinners, one after the other, I thought I'd never recover from. I sat on the floor watching the wedding. It was 11am in London but 10pm in Whakatane. I fell fast asleep lying on the floor!

At last the time came for our departure. The farewells were sad but that is life, a series of partings and greetings.

I will write separately about our stopover in Hong Kong on the way home from what was up to then The Holiday of a Lifetime.