I remember our New Zealand trip.

Thirteen years ago we paid a month's visit to friends in New Zealand. The friends were penpals, whose address I had come across in a newspaper on which I was preparing onions for the stew when I was in my early teens. New Zealand had fascinated me since childhood and now I had a connection. We corresponded for a good few years but eventually it dwindled to about 2 letter exchanges a year. In the late '70s the couple, Roma and Eric, came over and stayed for a month in our cottage at Nethybridge , then again they visited when we were in Glenfarg village, not far from where we now live. Now it was our turn to visit them.

We lived with them for a fortnight, visiting all over the lovely North Island then we set off on our own, travelling by train and bus ..and ferry!...to South Island and hired a car in Christchurch to tour the south and west of that island.

In the photograph above Chic and I are at the bus station in Whangerei, in North Island, ready to leave for the south. You'll notice our perfectly matched, co-ordinated set of luggage!!!! Four holdalls that we could easily carry were all Chic would allow..."You don't need a lot of clothes!" Good job I'm no sophisticate!

We had a wonderful holiday in a most beautiful part of the world, looked after, for the first half, by a very generous couple. Sadly Eric passed away a few years ago but Roma, now almost 90, seems as spry as ever, judging by the writing on her Christmas 2009 card.

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