Last bit of this. I will start something which is not about travel tomorrow for a change.

Dec. 16

We're now on the Coromandal Peninsula on the North Island for our final trip of the year. It’s hot and beautiful but we get tropical rain storms in the evenings and there are masses of mosquitoes. We spent Tues. driving. Phil always prefers the scenic routes which usually mean a slow windy dirt road that takes twice as long. We stopped at various possible places along the way but he always found something wrong, like at one, the beach had piped music. So about seven we finally got here.

It’s a tiny place called Haihi and has a lovely beach with white sand and islands off shore and two lighthouses and beautiful red flowered trees on cliffs overhanging the sea called Pahutakawa trees - the New Zealand Christmas tree.. We had a beautiful place to stay last night and felt like we'd really done well. It had a wonderful view out to sea. The next day as someone had reserve it we had to move to a one room cabin without toilet, or shower and very cramped. But, Phil wanted to stay, so we stayed.

We went to several beautiful nearby beaches yesterday and all got very sunburned again. One was Cook's Bay where Captain Cook first discovered N.Z. Another was a hot water beach where the thermal springs come close by the sea so you can dig a hole in the sand for your own hot bath and yet have the sea view a few yards away. The sea is still plenty cold.

Before we left Rotorua, Phil borrowed a saw and cut down a punga tree in the bush. No doubt that is not allowed but the jungle is so dense I'm sure they won't miss it. He chopped it into 10" blocks and we're going to make our own punga vases and lamp stands. If you've had your Christmas box you'll know what I'm talking about. I don't know how we'll get them back to England as they are heavy and postage will be almost more than they're worth We still have to figure out how to process them.

Rotorua was great fun, even though it was touristy and everywhere had an awful sulphery smell. We went through a Maori meeting house, and walked on the bubbling mud paths where the signs say, “If you throw any rubbish in, you will be expected to go and get it.” Not likely. You could see how the Maori’s chose to settle here when they first arrived from Hawaii as these bubbling water pools would be perfect for cooking their food.

Another place we stopped along the route was Napier, where we went to an aquarium and saw a dolphin show. That was great fun.

We'll stay here until Sunday and then start our trip back south crossing over to S. Island on Wed so we'll spend the night before in Wellington in a motel.

North Island is somewhat a disappointment to us. Not that is isn't lovely just that is isn't very different and some parts of the South Island are much better. But we felt we had to see it all to say we'd made use of our stay. The red Pahutakawa trees are different anyway. They are very old and gnarled and about 50 ft. high. The leaves are green and shiny and sort of like a heart shape. Then they get white buds that burst open into balls of fuzzy dark red. They are very beautiful and we’ve come just at the right time as they are just starting to come into bloom.

Dec. 23
We had a wet last few days of vacation but we were driving most of the time. Phil and Stephanie had flu so they felt pretty rotten. We drove to Hamilton, stopping at a motel there as we couldn't be bothered to rough it. That is where we nearly moved a year ago when Phil was offered it, and then the offer was rescinded. We think Chch is much a nicer place so in a way we are lucky it didn’t come off.

Then on Sunday we went to the Waitomo Caves where they have glowworms in a beautiful limestone cave. That was really a marvelous experience to see. We had a boat trip through the lower caves and millions of tiny lights lit the cavern. The glowworm is found only in NZ and they are about 1" long and the light is the extra energy produced by digestion and is used to attract mosquitoes which they the catch in their tiny strings of webs which look like icicles on a Christmas tree only very thin. Then we had another nice motel at a place about 50 miles away.

The next day we drove to Palmerston North where we spent a night in the same motor camp as we had a few weeks ago. Tues. We stayed outside Wellington. We stayed until Wed. and sailed at 7 and drove all the way home. We were so tired and glad to be back. But it was a very nice trip. It cost us $500 so I doubt if we'll ever have another one like that.

Jan 1, 1977
We just discovered that while we were gone someone came into our garden and uprooted and cut through all the flowering shrubs the owners were really proud of and it really was beautiful in the spring. Literally thousands of pink flowers covering the length and width of the fence. Everyone commented on it.

Our ponga tree project was a failure. The bits that I took the inner core out of' collapsed as they dried. We tried two bits in a slow oven but they didn’t work well either so we shall probably use it for firewood. I'd bought a vase for us so at least we have one good one to show off at home. I think it is the most wonderfully patterned wood - sort of striped vertically with different textures.

NZ takes a four day weekend over both Christmas and New Year so the country just sort of closes down. We can' sell our car or mail our pack ages until Wed. We had a nice Christmas - rainy and cold though. The kids started opening stocking presents, then breakfast and then had the main lot of presents. Phil bought me jeans and a shirt and shorts none of which fitted so they all get exchanged on Wed. when the stores open again. Then we went to Mass and went to drinks with our friends the Coxons. We had to give up our idea of having a hangi as it was so cold but the turkey was very good cooked in the conventional way. The next day was beautiful and we spent the day gardening. The next day we were out to lunch and some friends and yesterday had people here.

We managed to get three 22 lb. packages sent off. We'll have to do another six or so. Stephanie is busy organizing the things we will be trying to offer in a yard sale. Phil had the car tested for fitness to sell and shall advertise it. Andrea’s birthday party will be on Wed. but probably only four kids will come as so many people are away.

Jan 13.
We had a busy last few days in Chch with packing up 14 extra 22 lb. boxes to send back with clothes and books and souvenirs etc. We packed about 200 paua shells. Phil thinks we can sell them to an aquarium shop and that should pay f or the postage. We paid $9 per package. We had a round of good bye evenings before we left. Last Fri we spent the day with friends on one of the Bays and had a lovely time. Sat. we had friends to our house after our garage sale which made about $50 - we sold the car for $1300 and the bikes and trikes for $100 which was very lucky as we were overdrawn at the bank as a result of our holiday. We then rented a car so spent quite a bit our earnings on that. Phil just can't stand to be dependant on anyone.

We had two busy days of cleaning and packing and various people stopped by to say good-bye so it was slow going. Then we had lunch with some friends yesterday and they took us to the airport. We had two other families there to wave us off too so we didn't have time to feel sad at leaving. Phil went to town and bought three large prints by NZ artists, oil paintings,  so we shall have those as souvenirs. One lot of friends gave us a leather map reproduction of Capt. Cook's supposedly and another friend gave us salt and pepper shakers made of all kinds of NZ wood. With our 500 slides and shells and stones, we shouldn't be able to forget about NZ even if we wanted to.

We flew out of Christchurch when it was 90° and just lovely. Even in Fiji and Hawaii and Los Angeles it was quite pleasant. When we arrived back in London it was to heavy snow. We were the last plane allowed to land. We couldn't get up to a hanger area so a bus took us from the plane to the airport. It meant we had to jump off the plane as they didn't have the right steps. The customs and emigration were confused and we got through them easily because every body was so worried about the weather. We were met by Phil's father and he got us a cab to the train station.

The train was slow as they had to get the snow off the tracks in front. We all slept much of the way. We were just in time for the last train to Marple and on the way back I felt depressed. It was so cold and dirty and rundown and miserable looking. When we got to Marple we couldn't get a cab so we called our neighbour and he picked us up and his wife gave us hot soup and coffee. Phil shoveled our front door so it would open. We were home again.

Several months later

Stephanie and Jonathan settled back in school quite easily - and people were impressed by our dark tans. We told stories and showed slides regularly for a few months.

Andrea started at nursery school and fitted in without any difficulty.
We'd brought back some toys - including a koala bear which belonged to the owners of our house, but Andrea wouldn't be parted it. It was fairly hairless by then and pretty horrid looking so we didn't feel we could leave it for our hosts anyway. We traded it for Andrea’s Basil Brush which we left behind. She took it to show her friends at nursery and dropped it in a mud puddle - so there wasn’t much worth rescuing in the end.

Very quickly the kids lost their New Zealand twang and went back to sounding like Mancunians. And our suntans faded too. But always in the back of our minds will be the memories of the most wonderful year of our lives. I wish I could show you the pictures.