Enjoying Greymouth

At the end of my last post we were at the railway station awaiting the shuttle through to Christchurch. The train is a once a day trip - Christchurch to Greymouth and back about an hour later. And far too expensive for us ordinary folk. So we caught the shuttle bus and it was comfortable enough with very congenial company. People chatted and shared food and one man loaned a blanket to someone who was not dressed warmly enough. 

But before we left there were things to do and places to see.

I went back to the school gates and took a photo and a close up of the poppies that had been crafted and attached to the gates on ANZAC Day.

On ANZAC Day Sis and I met up with our cousin and after lunch we went up to the cemetery at Karoro and put flowers on our grandparents grave and a poppy on Grandad's war plaque. It was nice to see the gravesite looking so good especially with there being no family living there now.

    

From the cemetery we took a short trip to the Karoro beach, it is a stony beach, no sand, and the stones polish up beautifully. We went fossicking - looking for greenstone or pounamu and we found some stones with a green tinge but I doubt it was the pure stuff. We did pick up some pebbles for the Aussies to take home though. Some are such pretty colours.

Karoro beach, you can see the Southern Alps in the far distance and on a good day can pick out Aorangi Mount Cook.

Lorraine and Peter fossicking. There was a lady and her children fossicking as well, she had a hammer and chisel to break stones open, we just spat on ours to see the colour :)

Another day Peter invited Lorraine and I to go to the Mawhera Pa with him. The pa is built on the site of the original Maori settlement, which surprised me as I had always thought it was about a half mile further up the river. So after lunch at one of the local cafes we went on an immersive learning adventure. It was well worth the money and time spent, a world class attraction I would think. I was really impressed with the quality of the exhibits. Below is a collage of some of the interior, small individual storytelling pods, small theatres showing movies/animations of life on the pa and the environs and a larger than life model of a Maori chief. Just some of the delights in this amazing cultural centre.

I think it was that same day that we went to the railway station and bought tee shirts for the kids, well I bought tee shirts I don't know what anyone else bought. And then i told the other two to follow me. They indulged me and were pleased they did as I was showing them the pounamu boulder at the end of the platform. It's enormous and one of several scattered around the town. 

 Another night we had dinner at the hotel next to the motel. It was nice to go and have a proper meal after cooking scrap meals at the motel and we spent a very pleasant hour or so just chatting about our respective families and having a proper catchup.

Occasionally Lorraine and I did our own thing when Peter was away touristing :) One day we took a bit of a walk along the flood wall of the Grey River but although it looks like a nice sunny day a cold wind blows down the valley and it wasn't very pleasant. You can see looking upriver that there were grey clouds and although it didn't rain it was cold. 

Then we went and had brunch at a little place just up from the quay. 

We had to wait until after 11am as Sis wanted whitebait, so whitebait we had. $16 each for a very big patty sandwiched between fresh white bread. It was delicious :)

That was pretty much it in Greymouth. It was great to visit our old home town. We went and looked for the houses we lived in but neither of them were there anymore. Even the hospital where we both worked and the nurses home we lived in have been knocked over and rebuilt - I suppose that's what happens after a major earthquake or two.

When we arrived in Christchurch I had about six hours before my flight down to Dunedin so we met up with our Christchurch cousins. Six girls, we sat and chatted for a couple of hours before the cafe closed. That was half the girl cousins, another six are scattered throughout Australia and New Zealand.

That's me at the back on the left. Look at all that white hair, lots of wisdom in that group :)

And now I think I should stop. I don't talk a lot but I seem to forget to stop when I'm writing. 

So, until next time, 

keep well and keep safe.

Diana 

Christmas, New Year, a baptism and a tumble

It's been a bit busy and I apologise I haven't got around and read or commented on as many posts as I would like. I've tried. I'll keep trying and hope to do better as we get further into 2026.

Christmas Day dawned a grey cool day but it didn't dampen the Christmas spirit. After breakfast I made the salad, whipped cream and finished off doing the things I needed to do before we packed up the car and headed over to Vanessa's place for dinner with the family. We had been to the Carol Service on Christmas Eve because I knew we wouldn't get to the Christmas Day one - we seldom do.

At one point I think we had 14 family members there. Some ate with other branches of the family and then came over and some ate with us. We had a buffet set up and helped ourselves to what we wanted. I was sitting with my back to the door and suddenly this little boy rushed up to me all excited - the family from Palmerston North had arrived! We weren't expecting them and my GKB and I had been planning when we would go up and meet the new baby. Vanessa and Tony knew they were coming but hadn't told anyone :) Well done on their part.

They had been up since 5am travelling and arrived at Momona airport at 10:30am. It meant that Arlo had cousins to play with which was nice as he had been the only kid there until they arrived. That's the bigger kids above in their Christmas tee shirts, I don't know who gave those to them but they looked good, even baby Lucia had one :)

 

And this is Aaron and Sofi enjoying their Christmas dinner with a couple of their parishioners in Auckland. They were in the middle of shifting house and so appreciated having somewhere to go for dinner. All in all a good Christmas Day.

Bob getting popcorn and coke to snack on at the movies.

I don't know about most of you but we didn't see the new year in. We were in bed about 10;30pm and had the answer phone on as my brother has been notorious for ringing and waking us to wish us a happy New Year in the past. We didn't want to risk him waking us at midnight this year. Yes, we still have a landline as well as our cell phones. On New Years Day we decided to go to the movies as we had been gifted a voucher and had no other plans. It was an enjoyable day out but when we came out we had six minutes to get to the bus stop and we made it just as the bus pulled up. Phew. We have free buses as long as we travel during off peak hours.

And this is wee Lucia Carolitta. She was baptised today. She looks so happy in this photo but she wasn't happy in the church. She started crying as soon as the service started, cried all the way through. Mum couldn't calm her, Dad couldn't calm her and having water poured on her head didn't help. Eventually she went to sleep - when it was all over. I haven't heard a word of the service. I stood when others did and sat when they sat. I've since been told that most of us never heard a word of what was said, the poor priest, though he didn't seem fazed at all and as you can see was laughing with the family - as Lucia kept bawling her eyes out for the photo.

We didn't stay for a cup of tea and as we were leaving Alice was running down a slight slope and fell over. Landed on her knees and face. She took a real hard tumble and it looks like she'll have a good bruise on her face when it comes out. And let me tell you, she has a good set of lungs as well :)

And just because I can - some Christmas crocs.

That's all for now,

Keep well until next time,

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

Autumn ... and some Aussie visitors

Autumn is here in the south - but the trees haven't been told.

There is a little bit of colour change but not a lot.

Today was a lovely warm day, 28 degs C. 

so my GKB and I decided  that we would try 

to take some photo's of the plain in all it's autumn glory.

We headed up to the bridge over the motorway to see what we could do.

We were looking not quite into the sun which has resulted in the pictures

being a little hazy. 

Looking north across the plain toward Mount Allen, 

lovely, green and lush.

Part of our little town in the foreground.

Further around toward the west, where our warm wind was blowing in from.

Not a lot of colour. On the whole I think it has been too warm

 even though we have had snow on the hills a couple of times.

Looking west to Mount Maungatua. 

Now what has this got to do with Aussies you may ask? 

Nothing really, except that my little mother's 91 year old sister, 

her daughter and grand daughter came over for a surprise, flying visit.

And flying it was.

They spent a week in New Zealand,

 flew from one end of the country to the other, and back again,

visiting various relatives on the way and tomorrow fly home again.

We all went out for dinner last night, 

girls only as the men had other things happening. 

Three cousins, grand daughter took the photos.

We had a lovely meal together made all the more enjoyable

 because it was a spur of the moment thing.

We all enjoyed the visit, its a long time since we have caught up,

in one case about 40 years.

joining with:

Roses of inspiration

Have a lovely week, 

till next time.

Diana