18.2.11 Porirua, near Wellington, NZ

Susan and Robin live in a two level bungalow, perched high on a hill above the sea.  Last night, as the sun set on the peaks of South Island, and the cicadas chirruped amongst the tumble of flowers in the garden, we ate salad and compared notes on family history.  Susan’s father was the older of my mother’s two little brothers, so she is my cousin.  It’s uncanny how easy it is to feel at home with relatives that you have only met briefly before.  Susan and Robin are also very hospitable, warm people.  Susan’s father, my uncle, emigrated to Canada and she grew up there, returning to England to train as a nurse, then meeting Robin and eventually emigrating to New Zealand via Dubai (the town, not the airport).  Retired now, Sue is a key person in the New Zealand Search and Rescue Team, and Robin is heavily involved in restoring wetlands near Porirua. 

As our bioclocks haven’t quite sorted out the 13 hour time shift yet, much of the night was spent reading and admiring spectacular moonlight.  Also a little disconcertingly, the constellations were all upside down – Orion was standing on this head.  Morning dawned hot and sunny.  We had breakfast in the garden which slopes up steeply, full to bursting with flowers and shrubs.  The cicadas kept up their chorus.  The house, a cream, shallow-roofed building, is built into the hillside, two storeys at the front, one at the back, such that the front garden is well below the house, and the back one well above.  After breakfast, Robin took us up the winding path through the flowers, past the swing, and on to the vegetable garden.  Vegetables are not easy to grow, he said, as although there is plenty of rain in winter, summer is dry so watering has to be constant.  Also, plants are inclined to bolt.  So if you go away for a few days, what has not shrivelled up has bolted.

Porirua is built around what we would call a sea loch – a narrow inlet lets the sea into a huge roundish basin, full of brilliant turquoise water.  We walked round this during the morning, past brightly coloured beach houses with steps leading down into the water and boats drawn up beside some of them. One of these boats, full of shells, looked as if it was permanently out of the water.  We sat on the deck of a former water ski school and looked out across the brilliant blue sea to where a group of children were learning to sail, their clutch of little sailing boats bobbing and colliding while anxiously watched by their parents, hands shading their eyes.

We went on to the wetland reserve further round the estuary, where Robin and Sue along with others have worked to restore and conserve the area for wildlife as well as for visitors.  After short explore we had our coffee and biscuits in the sun at one of the picnic tables in the BBQ area which includes a huge push button electric barbecue.

We headed back to the house for lunch and Meg retired to bed, suffering from the combined effects of a flu and time slip.  There she remained for the rest of the day.  A lazy afternoon ensued as Meg slept and sneezed, Sue and Bill went out to shop and to give the dog a swim in the sea, and Robin pottered around the garden and prepared the evening meal.  In the evening Robin and Sue’s red headed daughter Nikki dropped her 2 boys, Luke (5) and Thomas (2), round for a sleepover with grandparents.  A couple of handsome young fellows they are too.