Waiwhare Wire 1993 02

WAIWHARE WIRE

DECEMBER 1993

I hope everyone find something of interest in our Christmas issue of the “Wire”.
Over the past few years I have enjoyed collating the numerous articles and stories given to us for publication; but now find I no longer have the time needed to commit to something like this. I am sure there are plenty of people in our community who could product a great new look to our local rag and do hope some of you will consider helping. So far there have been no offers of help for future issues – it’s not too difficult and we’ve had lots of fun putting them all together. I’m sure you would too!
Carol Ayres

CONGRATULATIONS
John and Shona Weir on the birth of your wee girl, Courtney in July.
Kirsty and Dave Hill on the birth of your second son, William in October.

BEST OF LUCK TO THE FORM 2 CHILDREN LEAVING WAIWHARE
Amanda McCaslin – off to Solway College
Sophie Lawrence – off to Iona
Antonia DeVries – best of luck with the Correspondence School

BEST OF LUCK TO THOSE LEAVING HIGH SCHOOL
Lucy Arthur and Robert Ayres are heading for Massey University.
Philippa Kay is off to Canterbury University.
Mark Barnett is persuing [pursuing] a career in mechanics.
Peter Sheild is intending to go to Lincoln.
Daniel Herron is off to spent [spend] a year in Thailand as American Feild [Field] Scholar.
All the best for your future in whichever career path you choose to follows.

FAREWELL.
Leonie, Steve, Rowan, Erin and Aidan Smith are [leaving] Waiwhare this weekend after having lived here for 11 years. We will be extremely sorry to see them go as they have made such a large contribution to the district in the time they’ve been here. Leonie has been not only involved in Playcentre, the squash club, school and CWI but has given so much of her time to each of them. I’m sure many have benefitted from her common sense and organisational ability. We wish them well in their new life at Puketapu and Leonie – make sure that brandy bottle is always full.

Page 2

WHY DEER HAVE ANTLERS
Long long ago on Aotearoa when the Maoris were alive, there lived an animal called the deer.
The Maoris killed the deer for their meat. The deer liked it’s head as it was, with nothing on it’s head.
After the next two weeks the deer started to eat a berry that the Maoris used for their medicine
There was a god called Tihar. The Maoris prayed to the god to punish the deer, so the god gave the deer antlers and that’s why the stags and deers have antlers and they run wild.
By Tamati Wall

CONGRATULATIONS TO EX WAIWHARE-ITE
Kathryn Schaw who we spotted in the paper a while back as Central hawkes [Hawke’s] Bay Show Queen.

CAPRICORNS
NEW YEARS EVE & BIRTHDAY BASH
Its a Masquerade Party!!!
Sherenden Hall Friday 31st
8pm
Everybody Welcome
B.Y.O. Music “Dominoes” Supper Plates optional
Demasking at Midnight

Page 3

MORE CONGRATULATIONS!
To all the High School students in our area who did well at school this year and were rewarded with prizes –

NAPIER BOYS’ HIGH SCHOOL:
DUNCAN Kay – Top of his class
Daniel Herron – Top in 6th Form Accounting
Robert Ayres – Premiere Cup (Hostel prize voted for by the boys themselves)

NAPIER GIRLS’ HIGH SCHOOL:
Philippa Kay – Honors [Honours] pocket for Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award
Achievement stripe for Touch Rugby and Shooting
Rachel Kay – Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award
Jessie Arthur – Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award and Achievement Stripe for Cricket

TARADALE HIGH SCHOOL & INTERMEDIATE
Tina Clarke – Achievement in Horticulture
Andy Gunson – Achievement in Graphic and Design and Junior Hockey Cup
Brett Gunson – Most improved in Room 22.

IONA COLLEGE:
Kathryn Paton – Top in 5th Form and Nona Collis Scholarship for clothing. Kathryn won a sewing machine for this!

LINDISFARNE:
Steven Croad – Top of his class

ST. PATS, SILVERSTREAM:
Peter Ward – 6th form prize for Design and technology
Michael Ward – 4th Form prize for diligence
Bronze Duke of Edinburgh award

Farewell also:
To Malcolm Robertson and Nicola Greene:- we wish you well for the future.

WELCOME BACK Ivan and Cath Gordon – look forward to seeing these familiar faces back at the start of 1994

Welcome also to Paul & Gail Walch who have moved into Fountaines cottage.

Page 4

HOW THE SPERM WHALE BECAME BIG AND WHY HIS TAIL IS NOT LIKE A FISH
Long ago the Sperm Whale was only the size of a fish. One day its tail got stuck in a giant trap.
He tried to get out by twisting and turning. He stretched so much that the chain broke and he crashed into the rock.
That is why his face is flat and his tail goes up and down not side to side like a fish.
By Scott, Nick, Tim and Bradley.

Why the Whale Isn’t a fish.
Long long ago before people roamed the land the whale was a fish. One day there came a beautiful fish it had all sorts of colours. The whale was very jealous. He wanted to have beautiful colours too, so he decided to play a trick on the fish. The next day he went to a wise old woman. He didn’t know she was the god of the sea. The whale talked about playing a trick on the fish. The god of the sea gave the whale a trick but it was a trick to punish the whale for being jealous. The whale went off and played the trick but he turned into a mammal. That is why the wale is not a fish today.
By Amy, Caroline and Elesha

Page 5

A Good Book to Worm Through

‘THE HARD CITY’ Clark Howard   Reviewed by Pam Gunson

A story set in the 1940’s, about a very gutsy twelve year old boy surviving the underlife in Chicago. Richie was orphaned by the disappearance of his father, a bootlegger, and his mother, a heroin addict.

A very sensitive child, who found difficulty defending himself was suddenly forced into finding a way to survive alone in the streets of Chicago, while he searched for his father.

He learnt to hide from authorities after many bad experiences in foster homes. He found shelter in the back of a bowling alley and became a master in the art of thievery. He experienced life in a reform school and learnt to protect himself physically through training as a boxer.

He was introduced early to sex through both gang girls and older women and he experienced gang life on the streets.

Although Richie’s life was a continual survival battle, he managed to spend much of his time persuing [pursuing] his love of reading. He shared this love and lure of the written word with a friend called Linda, a girl from a poor family. Both children were top scholars and were kindred spirits. The lure of books helped Richie to become a man of his own making.

His experiences in the South with his Grandmother, and his courage later in the Marines, together with his love of book s, moulded this boy into a very worthy character, but a character that was never able to eliminate experiences of the Chicago streets from his veins.

Other stories written by this exciting author
Dirt Rich
Quick Silver
Zebra Killings
Six Against the Rock

Waiwhare School
and District
Country
Cook Book
2
Recipe Book orders taken – $5.00.
Ready for the start of term one, maybe sooner but no promises.
Look forward to exciting, new recipes
Ring Liz 8742490 or Carol 8742710

Page 6

OTAMAURI PLAYCENTRE REPORT
I begin my report with a big thank-you to those who supported our “Las Vegas” night and “Flower Show, both were very successful and enjoyable.
We held our A.GM.at the end of September coming away with a new committee:
President – Sharon Sivewright
Vice-President – Sue Dingle
Treasurer – Robyn McDougal
Secretary – Vanessa Hildreth
I would like to thank Lyn Elliott for her hard work and dedication as President for the 1992/93 term and many years previous holding a variety of positions. We farewelled Lyn in November when Lawrence started school.
Our Tuesday roll is sitting on 27 at present and our Thursday extended session at 7.
Term 1 1994 roll is looking like dropping back, so If anyone out there with pre-schoolers would like to visit our centre under no obligation to join, we are open from 9.30 – 12.00
Tuesdays, birth to school age are welcome or phone me at 8743747.
We have been fortunate again this term to have Ann Sherwood co-ordinating our Thursday session which is going really well. Thank you Ann.
Our centre has 60 Arcoroc coffee mugs and teapots for any meetings or groups that wish to hire them.
As the Playcentre year finishes this week with our Christmas party we are all feeling tired and looking forward to the holidays, hopefully we will all return revived and enthusiastic ready for term 1, 1994.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish those readers of the “Waiwhare Wire” a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year from the Otamauri Playcentre.
Sharon Sivewright

DID ANYONE ELSE SEE IT … or was it just my vivid imagination. I’m sure I saw a man at school early one Monday morning dressed in a dinner suit (or part of a dinnersuit anyway). He dropped off one of his children. Was he on his way out … or home I wonder!!

Page 7

LOCAL HISTORY

MANGAWHARE

One of the earliest stations to be established at the Hawke’s Bay end of the Inland Patea Road was Mangawhare.

In 1861 Samuel Begg took up 15000 acres and John Begg 6750 acres. By 1872 financial difficulties forced a sale to J and R McDougall – financed by J. G Kinross, and the following year Kinross and one McDougall brother had formed a partnership before McDougall sold out six months later.

Further leases increased the area to 68500 acres reaching out to the Kaweka range and incorporating the present day Omahaki and Otamauri blocks.

During this time the station was managed by D. P. Balfour. Having taught himself to read and write David Balfour was a keen reader and owned many books. Several men working on Mangawhare contributed money for the purpose of buying books for winter reading. Having been asked to care for these books Mr. Balfour decided to establish a library in 1878 with 52 books. When Mr Kinross sold Mangawhare and maintained Glenross the library moved for some years, but returned to Mangawhare in 1889.

According to a printed catalogue (H.B Museum-History sec) in 1915 the library housed 3118 books.

In 1879 Kinross sold part of Mangawhare to the Hon. G. M Waterhouse, an Australian who settled in NZ in the late 1860’s and was Prime Minister for six months in the early 1870’s. The property was managed for him by his nephew F. S Waterhouse. The unsold acres were retained by Kinross and became Glenross Station.

By the late 1880’s F.S Waterhouse had acquired an interest in Mangawhare and was in partnership with W Fitzherbert. According to C Forde in an article in the Herald Tribune some 50yrs later they were ‘fine men to work for’.

1886 sheep returns placed the Mangawhare flock at 22400.

During the years in which the Waterhouses were in residence many social events took place on Mangawhare. There was a ballroom on the western end of the house and this was the venue for fancy dress balls, plays and other entertainment.

Tennis was popular as were hunts. Horses were the only means of travel and riding parties to the Blowhard would be organised, especially as a means of entertaining guests!

Some of the highest land on the station was Sandy Ridge and much of the land between the Blowhard and the ranges, very exposed to the severe and unpredictable elements, was very poor indeed. Years later, when the NZ Forest Service planted the Blowhard, a journal entry stated … ‘planting curtailed by bad weather for weeks … pinus radiata held in snow dumps over this period’

During a great flood in 1897, 20” of rainfall was recorded in just 24 hours.

When Waterhouse remarried in 1907 the top story of Mangawhare was added, and also at this time a new managers house (Mr B Ward’s house), mens quarters (Andy & Kathy Ward’s) and wool shed (David Ward’s) were built.

At one stage Mangawhare had a small trout hatchery and Mr Waterhouse stocked the Ngaruroro at Kuripapango and the upper reaches of the Tutaekuri.

Various blocks were sold over the years, one of the largest being Waiwhare – the Maori name for Waterhouse …’a happy name, a memory of one of two original partners’  (C Forde, HB Herald Tribune 1932). This was sold to R Bell and then again to Ensor’s in 1918.

Page 8

During WW1 the Waterhouse-Fitzherbert partnership sold Mangawhare for a reported seven pounds, ten shillings an acre, and in 1919, it was bought by Mr Frank Hildreth.

In the 1920’s and 1930’s there was a golf course on the Mangawhare property, in an area still named golf links paddock. The course was later moved to a new vicinity where it survives today as Crownthorpe Golf Club.

In 1947, now totalling 2570 acres the property was sold to Mr Clifford Tolley (Brian’s father). It was then subdivided into four farms currently owned by Tolley’s, McCraes, Dunns and Herrons.

In the heydays of the Inland Patea the Waterhouses always maintained an open house policy and even today Pat and Brian open their home to travellers for meals and farmstays.

Acknowledgements:
Hawke’s Bay Herald Tribune: Looking Back series 1932
Mangawhare Library article 1991
Early Stations of Hawke’s Bay – Miriam McGregor
County Council History of HB – compiled by K Mooney
Kaweka Forest Journal Vol 1
Also thanks to Brian and Pat Tolley and Helen Arthur

COMALCO CAN PLAN COMPETITION
The children of Waiwhare School would like to thank all those people who generously dropped cans off at the school during the year. In the division we were entered (roll under 50) we came in 9th position (nationally)
This couldn’t have happened without your help.’
We hope to do even better next year!

Page 9

When was the last time you sorted through your recipe books?
At school we were recently handed an old school committee minute book (dating back to 1984 no less). Seems an ex school committee member found it whilst sorting our recipes for the school’s new cookbook!! Wonder when she last used those recipes?

Rafting New Years Day
Time to uncover those sailing vessels and brush off the cobwebs!
Patch up the rafts, pump up the tubes and prepare your boat/canoe/raft/tube/bodyboard, etc for the “WAIWHARE ANNUAL RAFT DAY”.
Everyone is encouraged to come floating on the Tutaekuri on New Years Day 1994 (guaranteed to clear your head!).
For those of you who haven’t been before – this takes more or less 2 hours.
Starting point is the end of Dampney Road and finish line is end of River Road (Barnetts). Bring some food along for a barbeque tea and make sure you organise dry clothing to be waiting at the finish for you. Dress warmly (woollen jerseys) as it can get quite cold after a while and please ensure all children are wearing life jackets. Watch out for flying water/flour bombs, seaweed, eggs, etc.
Starting time – approx. 1.00 pm.
No excuses if you don’t have a raft – there are a few ‘spares’ in the district (ask around) and if you have no luck there, you can always make your own!
Enquiries to Mike Barnett – phone 8742 445
Postponement date – next fine day.
The Waiwhare Social Club will be providing beer and wine at the finish.

Page 10

APOLOGIES AND CONGRATULATIONS TO JESSIE ARTHUR
Apologies for leaving you out of our last issue Jess and congrats for gaining school cert English.

There was a young lady from Waiwhare,
To the men at the club quite a worry.
She needed a partner to show her the way,
As pool was the game she wanted to play.
The young men were keen to offer their help.
And show off their skills to this lady of stealth.
The expertise and advice flowed fast
But those young men – they just couldn’t last
Cos Yvette wasn’t ruffled she kept her cool
When she beat all those guys and won the pool!

CONGRATULATIONS
Amanda McCaslin for winning a scholarship at Solway College. Clever girl

Page 11

TOUCHWOOD BOOKS

Over a year has gone by since I last wrote about Touchwood Books and during that time there have been many changes, both at work and within the district. There will be quite a few of you who are relatively new to the area and probably have no idea what that almost inconspicuous sign behind the Waikonini letter-box is actually about.  Please feel free to come and have a look, even if you just want to be nosey – never feel that you can come only if you intend buying some books .

We’ve had our computer system in since September 92 and now we wonder how we ever coped without it. It took a long time to get all the stock onto it as each title had to be entered and there are about 9000 of them. Each book is barcoded and we use barcode scanners to “read” the titles. Invoicing is a breeze now and we always know how much stock we’ve got on hand, whether a title is on order, out of print, about to be released and so on, just by pressing a few keys. There have been a lot of glitches with the system, mainly through human error but I think we are on top of all that now.  I’ve tried to encourage, cajole or threaten Peter to be more systematic but some people never learn anything after the age of 20.

The system was upgraded in August this year – it was done by the programmer himself who came and stayed here and spent half of one night and most of the next day installing the new equipment. Talk about brilliance in act ion! I had only ever spoken to Tony on the phone before and always dreaded having to talk to him – typical of many brilliant people, he’s got no phone manner at all and I was rather nervous about meeting him in person. He came back from the booksellers’ conference in Wellington with us, which made me even more nervous as I was responsible for the safety of this person who has a million-dollar insurance policy on his life! It really was a pleasure to watch him work and he even had a sense of humour -found some of Peter’s wisecracks a bit hard to fathom out, though. He admitted that although he spends his life in bookshops of one sort or another- he had never seen a bookshop like our’s before.

We have got three terminals now – one each – and the latest version of our program.  We thought the old version was wonderful but this is even better. We can now target people with particular interest areas so that, for example, if we get a new book on palms, we can send the information off to all those people who have listed palms as one of their interests. Those interests can be as specific as possible. We also got a word processor installed and Peter is still grappling with that. He can often be heard saying “… computer!!!”  I often walk in in the mornings to be greeted with “Your computer’s not working”. What he does to it while I’m not there I’ve no idea! Nothing so far has proved to be insurmountable, thank goodness. The database is proving to be worth its weight in gold as we can source so many titles now that were impossible to track down before. Remember that we can get books on any subject for you – even though we will always be a specialist bookshop we can buy any books at all.

Page 12

Peter, Diane and I went to the annual booksellers’ conference in Wellington in August, lived it up at the Plaza International Hotel and I, at least, had a great time. It was old hat to Diane and Peter but I thoroughly enjoyed meeting people whose names I knew so well and whom I had more than likely spoken to on the phone, but had never met.  People were just so curious about our setup and there has been a noticeable resistance, so we’ve heard, amongst general bookshops to stocking gardening books because “Touchwood Books will have it”. Great! I came away feeling very proud to be a part of Touchwood Books and very grateful that we are a specialist bookshop. There is quite an animosity between the small, family-orientated bookshops and the bigger booksellers like Paper Plus, Whitcoulls, London Bookshops and Philip King and the smaller ones really do have to struggle to find ways of attracting custom away from the others. Thank goodness we don’t have to sell cards and stationery as well!

Our new-found efficiency because of the computers proved to be our undoing a while back all because of a particular book on gazebos, which is in great demand. We had 80 people wanting it and we’d already told them we would have new stock at the end of August. Further communication with the NZ distributor revealed that the jolly book was not going to be here until the end of September because of the American floods.  As the book is printed in New York we wondered what the connection was with the American Mid-west, but who were we to argue? Peter immediately sat down and wrote a letter – explaining the delay and saying that we would understand perfectly if people wanted to cancel their orders – on his new toy, printed 80 copies of it in no time at all, posted them and the next day got a phone call saying the books were being off-loaded in Auckland right at that moment. A lot of mystified people would have got their book less than a week after being told they weren’t to expect it for six weeks at least. If we’d done what we would have done normally (ie nothing) no-one would have been any the wiser and we would have saved ourselves a lot of paper, envelopes and postage.

We now have 23 agents selling books on our behalf around the country and Peter is always turning down people who ask to be agents for us. It is quite a job keeping stock up to those agents but as always, things improve with time as we get better systems in place. I do quietly hope Peter will one day soon say “No more!”. We are also sole NZ distributors of some titles now and these are proving to be quite worthwhile. That means that other bookshops have to get their stocks directly from us.

The increase in workload meant tho.t we had to take on someone to wrap up parcels earlier in the year and the lucky person turned out to be Sue Guy. I wasn’t quite so lucky – my life will never be the same no; after putting up with her and Peter together for the few months Sue was with us. We were very sorry to lose her, our CPU (chief packer-upper), in mid-October when she joined the Police Force. Can’t understand why she prefers being a Mrs Plod to working in the convivial atmosphere of Touchwood Books.

Sue’s place has been taken by Julie Holst, who has become quite a gun on butcher’s knots. She, Jill Simons and I had a great time running the stand at the A & P Show in October while Diane and Peter were jet-setting around the country doing gardening shows.

I can’t finish this without mentioning the other important member of the Touchwood team and that is Helen. Twice a day, at 10am and 3pm on the dot, the phone rings and she tells us our cuppa is ready. Incidentally, one day she rang someone else and told the person she was talking to to come and get their cup of tea – the person on the other end said she’d love to but had no idea who she was talking to!  Sitting on her verandah in the sun gives us a welcome respite from the hard slog that goes on in the bookshed and she usually has some amusing anecdotes to liven up our day with. If there is anyone who is a good advertisement for making the most of life at any age it is indeed Helen.

Page 13

BATS!
It is quite possible that we have native bats living in the Waiwhare district, according to Mr. Rob Whittle of “Little Bush” across the river at Puketitiri.
Mr. Whittle has been searching his own property and around Ball’s Clearing for the native bats, using a sonar detector at night. He is finding a few.
The bats are about the size of a mouse with a wing span of 6-7 inches. They are warm blooded and eat insects, catching them on the wing, like a fantail. They look very similar to the English bat called at Flittermouse.
The bats only come out at night and roost by day in deep shady gorges, like the Willowford Gorge or in caves.
Mr Whittle is trying to find out if there are many left in the area, and would be very pleased if you have ever seen one, if you could give him a ring. His phone number is 8398605.
Mr. Whittle said an old hunter had told him the bats started to decline in numbers one the possums began to move in, the possums taking over the roosting places of the bats, so if you have seen any, give Rob Whittle a ring and drop a line to The Waiwhare Wire as well.
Peter Arthur.

We hear some interesting books are coming from Touchwood Books these days. We know you are an export on “dots”, Peter – hope you can cope with this one entitled “Really Naughty Santa”.

On Saturday I found a bat skeleton, at least that’s what we think it is anyway. It has lost it’s head and I have got a calf.
Sam Roil

Page 14

Seems one can’t get to town these days without coming across ex Waiwhare-ites. Many of us have often called at Lynaire and Roger White’s dairy on the way through Taradale where there is always a familiar face, good service and time for a chat.
Now you can find another familiar face at the Fernhill store. Anne Ellmers has been working long hours since taking over the store a short time ago, and business certainly seems to be humming.
Maanga can occasionally be seen ‘wafting’ around in the wings but firmly maintains this is Anne’s ‘thing’ before disappearing off to his job in town.
Nichollette works there part time and Michelle is often serving after school and in the weekends.
It’s nice to see you there Anne – Good luck in your new venture.

RUGBY ROUNDUP
Well the day has arrived – mixed feelings – sadness and excitement abate as the children prepare to play their final game of rugby for the season, then head off to the HHSOB Club rooms for the annual presentations and “bun fight”.
All teams did very well this year – some better than others naturally, but I think all those boys from Waiwhare thoroughly enjoyed their games
and looked forward to their next game the following Saturday. These children being Simon Wallace, grade 11, Daniel Ward and Bradley Wallace, grade 9, Jock Lawrence, Rowan Smith, Corey Bullock, grade 8 and Sam Roil, Hamish Webster and Richard Ward, grade 7.
Several of these boys had a mention at the presentation – Jock received a Rugby ball for good all round sportsmanship and good consistent playing throughout the season.
Bradley received a trophy for the Most Valuable Player in grade 9.
Corey, a trophy for the Most Improved Player in grade 8 and Sam a trophy for Most Improved Player in grade 7.
Grades 11 and 7 won trophies for winning the most games within the club. Well done boys!

Good Luck – to Sue Guy who began as a recruit at Wellington Police College on October 18th. We hear she outclassed ex-Army men in the pistol shooting

Page 15

Country Clubbing

Once upon a time (last Friday), a local lady went clubbing with a friend (at Waiwhare). Local lady’s husband met up with them a short while later. After a few (?) modest shandys the friend went home.

Many long joyful hours later our local lady and hubby said their goodbyes and stumbled out into the dark.

“Where’s the car dearest?” he asked her.

“At my friend’s honey,” she replied.

“Where’s the truck love?”“At home my flower.”   Oh!!!!

Realising they were carless … and shoeless! (Well one of them was), they contemplated their dilemma.

What else was there to do but to wander off into the wilderness and start off home on foot (only a mere 5km away).

To their surprise and immense relief, there came out of the darkness a little Sparke … which took them home.

The moral of the story is that next time you go clubbing:-

Be responsible like our couple “DRINK & DON’T DRIVE,” but DO REMEMBER TO ORGANISE SOME TRANSPORT HOME!!

Page 16

ADVERTISEMENTS

WANTED
2 booster car seats, any condition.
Ph Judy Neil, 8742848

FOR SALE
Xmas trees – $5.00
Ph Fountaines 8742448

Farmers!
Touchwood Books has an ever-increasing range of books on farming in stock. New titles are “Farmer’s Veterinary Guide” – new edition of the old favourite “Pasture Renovation Manual” and various books on animals, poultry etc. also a large range of books for the small-holder. We can also beg vehicle and machinery manuals for you.

Church Service
The Xmas Carol Service will be held at the Crownthorpe Church on Sunday 19th December at 5pm
Everyone most welcome.

LIBRARY
Please remember the Country Library at Tolley’s is open to the public. This is a real asset to our district and if we don’t use it we just may lose it.

Page 17

Community Comment

I was born a few years ago in Apia Hospital, Western Samoa and I imagine I spent the first 18 months of my life rolling around in the sun and Frangipani enjoying the idyllic island lifestyle. Unfortunately for me my parent’s 7 year stint of teaching in Samoa came to an end.  I guess I should be grateful I was born at all as I arrived 12 years after the last one, but I shall always think of how lucky my brother and two sisters were to be able to spend their primary years there and later their school holidays while all I have are photo memories.

We returned to New Zealand and lived at Matawai between Opotiki and Gisborne for 3 years before we were on the move again to Haumoana School where I spent all of my primary years to be followed by secondary schooling at Karamu. This was followed by three years at Palmerston North Teachers College as it was called then and my first years posting was at Warkworth, north of Auckland

We were guaranteed a job in those days. I liked mine so much I won the following 2 year position. Warkworth and the surrounding bays and beaches would have to be one of my most favourite places.

Being virtually an only child I had plenty of solo time to fill in and one of my methods was writing letters to my pen pals. At one stage I must have had 20! By the time I was teaching I was down to one, in Canada. Kerry had visited New Zealand in my first year teaching and I was saving furiously to make a reciprocal visit by the time I finished my 3 year teaching bond. A few months of market garden work helped the finances although I went off gherkins for several years.

I was finally off on the Big Overseas Trip. Arrived in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in May and spent Three months of summer travelling from coast to coast. A real eye opener was the distances and travelling for 3 days in a train. Being poor we did the hard way, sleeping the two nights in our seats. The other big difference was the amount of animal wildlife ie. foxes, skunks, mountain goats, elk, etc. along the sides of roads and of course the uneasiness when during an enjoyable walk in the bush you suddenly remember about bears around the comer and decide its high time to back track.

Holidays came to an end and so too did the money and it was time to work.

I ended up with two jobs, one during the day in a fur shop and the other a mad dash down the block to cook in a restaurant.

Fur shops in Canada don’t just sell fur coats they repair them, alter, remodel and store them over the hot summer months in a deep cool cellar underground. My job was a gopher (or gofer). I had the task of packaging up all the coats that were requested by their owners at the first sign of a cold snap and delivering them all over town. It was a great way to get to know the area but certainly had its difficulties when the snow really did hit and I hadn’t adjusted my driving style. My guardian angel looked after me several times as I cruised through intersections with the foot flat on the brake.

The other job was pretty cruisy too. All I had to do was make lots of crepes, dish them up with pre made fillings, throw together a salad and dish up slices of tempting baked cheesecake or rich chocolate torte. The exception was the Lobster Thermidore crepe. There were a few customers who must have wondered where their dinner was as I threw yet another lumpy sauce down the drain and had another go (must have done some things right as they kept me on at both jobs long enough to save my fare to England

I travelled by Greyhound from Saskatoon to New York, another eye-opener and once again that guardian angel was there because those bus stations can be very freaky in the early hours of the morning. I was paranoid about New York. “Don’t look anyone in the eye.”

“Wrap your handbag around your arm”. “’Wear a money belt” etc, that my only sightseeing was craning my neck out the window of a yellow taxi as it sped from the Bus Station to the Airport. I flew Lakker [Laker] Airways because I heard how cheap they were when I was in New Zealand. By the time got to New York every other airline had dropped their price too. No surprise then that the morning after my arrival in London the ‘hot’ news was the collapse of Lakker [Laker] Airways – planes were virtually turned back mid air.

Guardian Angel … thank you

I spent a few weeks in Britain sightseeing before a mad 3 week Eurail pass to get around the Mediterranean. The 3 weeks were considerably shortened when lack of language meant I got on the wrong carriage at Rome and ended up in Reggio-De Calabria (Mafia country) instead of Brindisi and right at the start of the holiday break. Nobody spoke English and with my fair hair I stood out like the proverbial sore thumb. However I found that with persistent males, swear words, spoken with enough force, sound the same in any language.

Page 18

So there I was stuck for 4 – 5 days. I caught up on alot [a lot] of writing and sunbathing! but I was desperate to speak to someone, anyone in my own tongue. I feel sorry for the two Kiwis who were the first English people I met in Brindisi, they must have wondered what they bad struck.

The rest of my travels were very uneventful, I look back and wonder whether it was due to my travelling alone that I was so lucky – the luck of the naive and innocent I certainly wouldn’t recommend it though. I shudder now to think of the things that could have gone wrong. In Greece I ran into 2 Australian girls who were stuck there awaiting new passports – delayed by Easter as well because it falls a week later than in Italy. They had accepted a drink of V8 vegetable juice from an innocent looking couple. One bad come to her senses, scratched and bruised at one of the hotels talking alot [a lot] of nonsense while the other was found still clambering dazed amongst the rocks on the beach. All their money and travel documents were gone – Aussie passports being the most popular.

Back in London it wasn’t long before I’d made my choice between a cold damp winter as a barmaid or nanny and a hot sunny, summer as a relieving teacher so I spent the next 8 years in Melborne [Melbourne], Australia.

Over four years ago I returned to New Zealand with the best little bundle of my life and as the saying goes – I haven’t looked back.

Keryl Lee-Kelleher

Children from Waiwhare school with a stuffed horse, part of the Kiwiana exhibition in Hastings. Photo: BILL KEARNS
ANYONE RECOGNISE THESE STUDIOUS CHILDREN?

More congratulations – this time to Elizabeth Gordon who came 2nd in the 2000m walk at the National Secondary Schools’ athletic championships in Auckland recently.

Page 19

Congratulations
Andrew & Cathy

WE WISH YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Have a safe holiday everyone

From the Waiwhare Wire team – Carol, Linda, Keren, Leonie