“There are no safe paths in this part of the world. Remember you are over the Edge of the Wild now, and in for all sorts of fun wherever you go.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
Eventually and sadly our time with the
Andy Moores in Dallas had to come to an end. The trip home to Hobbit
land was a long one consisting of 4 legs; Dallas to San Antonio to
the south, San Antonio to LA, LA to Auckland and Auckland to
Christchurch. Whew!
Next up I was back to work at Hornby
High, and this time I took up 3½ hours per day and as well my
private students. It was great to see all my colleagues and students
again. School needed to help some students attain their required
NCEA credits so the time there was entirely hard out but very
satisfying to see the students 'make the grade'.
As our home was otherwise occupied
(rented), we stayed with our good friends, the McCartneys and the
Guos, two weeks each. How precious your friends are when you are in
a tight spot!
Driving north on Saturday 9th
March we clear weather and a smooth crossing of Cook Strait. We
rarely drive the route to Auckland so this was a brilliant
opportunity to meet up with some dear friends and relations.
After stopping over in Hamilton with my
Aunt, Judith, a much younger sister of our centenarian uncle, Frank,
we popped into the famous Hamilton Gardens where there are many
individual themed gardens of an extremely high quality and really
delightful. Our travels then took us through Morrinsville and Te
Aroha. This is the first time I'd ever been to these country towns
and it was quite exciting for me as they had long been on my 'Must
Do' list of places to see. I have three friends from Te Aroha and
my Grandmother's step sister, Aunty Tui married a much older man,
Algie Gifford, who had been the pharmacist in Morrinsville when she
was a child. He had been a frequent visitor to their mission home in
the King Country at Taumaranui and had waited for her to become of a
marriagable age before proposing to her – quite a love story but
very difficult to picture as I'd only known him in his latter years,
propped up in bed constantly painting the view if the Manukau Harbour
from his window, somewhat like Dickens' Mr Dick in 'David
Copperfield'. Anyhow the countryside in these districts is truly
lovely and the towns are very pretty too and full of rather antique
shop fronts of all shapes and sizes.
From here we made a short stop in
Thames, and finding the Tapu route we'd intended to use, closed for
service, we took the usual route, the Kopu Hikuwai, through the
swathes of astoundingly beautiful native bush and past Tairua and Hot
Water Beach. It was now early evening so we had some tea before
calling on my dear Whitianga friends, Beth and Ash Cumings. Beth has
been a mentor of mine since my childhood, although we didn't use that
fancy phrase back then. And Ash was my Standard 4 teacher and a pal
of my dad's. 
They took us the following day to see how much
development was taking place in the local environs and then on to
Opito Bay, over the infamous Black Jack Hill where we had the
advertised segull-free picnic. The nearby lookout afforded views of
the Mercurys as well as Great Barrier Island and the a string of tiny
islands running down the coast and out of sight – just another
reminder that New Zealand is perched precariously on the active
inter-tectonic plate boundary.
Beth and I went out for a familiar
walk and came across some almonds, splitting out of their peach like
coverings, just lying on the path; our botanical discussion at this
point was rather amusing as Beth is a local plant expert, but having
cracked and tasted some, they were indeed sweet almonds. On the
following day we did some over-spraying with Beth's wonderful floral
paints and were able to restore a pair of my shoes, a handbag and a
necklace so I was very thankful and a lot tidier!
Driving north and across the Coromandel
Penninsula we reached the Coromandel township, a delightful village
that would have been interesting to investigate further. South of
here, having passed many small bach settlements over the next 40km,
we came to the small coastal town of Te Puru. Here right on the
beach with lovely views and plenty of sun we settled at Alex's
family's cottage for the next few nights while I attended a family
reunion, just a further 15mins South.
Over the weekend of 15-17th
I attended the reunion of the Wiltons in Thames. My mum had written
a huge tome about the family history a few years earlier so it was
with much excitement that we all met to hear more of the Wiltons,
hailing as miners from Cornwall. From here we drove south a little
to Tauranga where we did some work on my mum's house AND had a dip in
the Ocean. It was far too hot for the hot mineral pools.
Then in at Clark's Beach on the south
side of the Manukau Harbour we saw my uncle's new home that he'd
moved to having left his Charolais beef breeding behind in Onewhero
across the Waikato River. While there we also took in a local church
fete on the Saturday morning, it was very pretty on the beach front
with colourful tents and bunting.
Moving further north I was thrilled to
meet up with all three of my female Tilsley cousins; visiting two of
their homes over night. It's always lovely to see them and to catch
up on all their news. A special treat was being taken by Alex's aunt
to visit her mum, his Grandmother in Royal Oak. Shona and Wally were marvellous as was our friend Barbara; we're so thankful we could have time with our friends. In just a few days
we saw lots of friends and enjoyed the Auckland environs until Tues
4th April when we flew direct to Perth.