My father was one of twelve children and my mother was one of seven. Consequently I ended up with rather a lot of first cousins. I counted them up one day and decided that they numbered around fifty. As with all big families and circumstances, especially World War II the ages of my cousins is very spread and some were more the ages of Aunties and Uncles. Consequently I was rather closer to a number of my second cousins; that is children of my cousins. Add to that life long friends and I certainly have a large number of people to try to see while I’m here.
Today has been an interesting day. This morning I did a walk from Dawn’s house, beginning by going down a footpath opposite the house. At the bottom you pick up a path that runs beside a stream that serves as a storm water drain. At the moment they are trying to turn it into a nature reserve.
You eventually reach a park that leads down to the beach. Every beach seems to be so well provided for with playing grounds and other facilities and look so lovely at the moment with the Pohutukawa trees. The sand was nice and firm and the beach stretched out before me.
I was suddenly caught in a squally shower and had to seek shelter under a large tree. There are some pretty magnificent properties with views out to sea.
I was delighted to see an Oyster Catcher fishing in the low tide.
After my return from my 7 kilometre walk I tried to help Dawn who was preparing for a mini cousin reunion. My cousin David and his wife Lynaire were driving down from Paparoa, which is a settlement up in Northland on the eastern side of the country In addition Dawn’s sister Diane was also coming from rather closer. It was just fabulous to see them all again. When you’ve been away for thirteen years inevitably some changes have taken place in all our lives, but it was really special to be with these cousins and partners again. This is the main purpose of my trip.
