A trip down memory lane

 

Punakaiki River Valley

 by K John Toomer.

 I was visiting a friend in a rest home when  this painting on the wall in the foyer caught my eye. I thought I recognized the area, it's the Punakaiki River on the West Coast of the South Island, NZ. As a child I spent a lot of summer weekends in this area as my uncle was building a batch on the river and he frequently took a carload of cousins, aunties and uncles out there for the day and, after the batch was completed, for the weekend.

The batch has long been sold now but here is a photo of Aunty, Mum, middle sis and me standing outside it when we visited it a few years ago when sis and I took Mum and  my eldest grand daughter over for a holiday. And this, below, is where we all rushed through the bush to the river to play and swim. No gates, fences or paths in those days though, just tracks we made of our own accord.

We played in the bush and swam in the river and at some stage there was a canoe we took turns in and just generally had a lot of fun. The boys went eeling under the bridge and uncle went whitebaiting. It was a great whitebait river and there were several people there in the season. Uncle, and others, would also go surf casting in the sea but I can't remember that we ever ate any fish. We must have.

Grand daughter just down river from the 'eeling' bridge.

The pancake rocks were just a couple of kilometres further up the road and on occasion everyone would go up for a look and see if the blow holes were blowing. The sea had to be fairly rough for that and an incoming tide but it was a great spectacle. We'd have a great time clambering over the rocks with the mothers shouting at us not to fall in because they weren't jumping in to get us :). 

That was in the days before it became a tourist spot and fences and paths were built. It all seems very tame now when I go back and remember what we got up to and I'd rather remember it the way it was. Maybe we were a bit foolhardy but it was a lot of fun and we survived. We only ever got into trouble the one time some of us went up by ourselves and didn't tell anyone until we got home to the batch.

One of the paths around the blowholes and pancake rocks.

Although I do remember the boys taking a couple of kitchen knives and going AWOL into the bush for the day. Pig hunting they said when they got back. Needless to say they never saw a pig, which was probably just as well and they got a sound telling off when they arrived back. I think they were probably about 10 or 11.

I hope you enjoyed my little trip down memory lane, I have.

The photos are all more recent  but still give an idea of how things were.

**************

My prayers and thoughts are with the people in the Marlborough, Nelson, Tasman area.

Keep well and keep dry.

Diana

Punakaiki

On the Sunday of our reunion we decided to head up to Punakaiki and the blowholes after we had finished our lunch. All the planned stuff was finished and now it was time to relax and do some sightseeing. It was a lovely day, maybe a bit chilly but for Easter on the Coast it was magnificent - the weather really put on a good performance for us. Some of the family went out to the Pike River Mine to have a look at the memorial to the miners who lost their lives in the 2010 explosion and others joined us for an excursion up the coast road. We drove along beside the Tasman Sea.

I have put a lot of pictures up so I hope you don't get too bored, I'm going to mostly let them speak for themselves with maybe the occasional interruption from me :)

looking south and... 

...north on the Coast Road.

At Punakaiki.

The Pancake rocks.

Shags.

All of the blowholes were really blowing well, 

these two pics are of the Chimney Pot 

(that's it at the bottom of the picture just off centre)...

...and although it might not look it we could

 have done with umbrellas here :)

That is nikau palm forest just behind and on

 the hill at the back is ancient beech forest.

Some family and people shots.

DIL trying to replicate the Maori weaving below.

Nikau Palms.

Refreshments before we headed to our daughters holiday

 accommodation for a pizza tea by the beach with just 

our branch of the family...

...where we were treated to a beautiful sunset over the Tasman Sea.

When I was growing up Punakaiki was not "discovered" and my uncle and aunty had a bach (crib, holiday house) on the river here. We spent wonderful summer weekends here with our cousins, in and on the river, at the beach and running around the pancake rocks. It is quite interesting to see how it has been developed and made safe for tourists where we just used to run free but that is progress and it is a great natural asset for the area.

I hope you enjoyed looking at where 

a little piece of my heart still resides.

joining Debbie today for: 
Friday Foto Friends 

Diana

Reunion - part two

Saturday night found us all gathered at the Recreation Hotel for a celebration dinner. We had been able to go in earlier in the day and put Easter eggs at each place setting and although it doesn't seem so in the picture, it looked quite pretty. One sis had wrapped several eggs in cellophane bags and tied them with pretty curling ribbon, enough for a bag each for each person there. With wine and soft drinks on the table it added to the effect.

We started with an entree served at the tables followed by a buffet main course. This meant that those with special dietary requirements could have what they needed. Once again when 

it came to desserts we were served at the table. The food was delicious but it was a shame that the noise from the open kitchen made it difficult for people to hear our eldest cousin when he gave a tribute to our grandparents and then made the toasts. Luckily he had written it out and we were able to get a copy posted on our facebook page.

Immediately after dinner was over we cut the reunion cake. We would have left it a bit later as some people were still eating dessert but our Aunty was ready for home and we really wanted her to do the honours. The cake was made by my eldest grandson, very decadent, layered mud cake filled with chocolate ganache and iced with chocolate. Once again the theme was flags and daffodils, all made with chocolate - well the ones on the cake were anyway :)

Just after it was cut there was an accident with a wine glass and one end of the cake was covered with wine and broken glass. Luckily it was a big cake and we were able to salvage most of it but the waitress who caused it was very upset as she was new at the job.

A good time was had by all and not a cross word was heard. The little kids were all marvellous, and cousins of all ages caught up with each other. The four in the picture above all live in the same city but had to travel to the Coast to visit with each other :)

On Sunday lunch time we had a farewell at one of the local cafes, "The Gap". Sharon, the owner, was so obliging. When I rang her to confirm our booking it was the first she had heard about us wanting to use her cafe to say our farewells. She had bought the business since we booked and I rang her less than a week out from the event. But she reserved space and set up seating for 30 which worked really well as we arrived in groups of 10 to 20 and there was plenty of room for everyone at any one time :) The staff were very friendly and obliging as we were there on a very busy holiday weekend.

On Sunday afternoon those of us who weren't travelling did some exploring, my GKB and I went to Punakaiki to the blow holes but I'll write about that another time as it really warrants it's own post.

One thing we of the older generation find interesting is that our families enjoyed themselves so much that they all want to go back for holidays and do some more exploring. A real positive spin off as most of them have shown no interest up until now :)

Joining in Five on Friday

over at FAST

Diana