85. Vignettes of Family Life in New Zealand: (5) Christmas/New Year 1977/78

 

ACTION LEARNING SYSTEMS

                                                                                         P.O. Box 37-362, Parnell, Auckland 1

                                                            
1a Huia Rd., Papatoetoe. 6th November 1977
    Dear Mum and Dad,
    We are just beginning to surface again after a very hectic month. My seminar went off very well on Monday and Tuesday of this week, the first venture of 'Action Learning Systems' of which I am sole proprietor and Mary is agent. So that's why you have all the business notepaper since I thought you might like to see what it was like. Also enclosed is the brochure for the seminar. We are going to repeat it in February and have already been approached to run it next year sometime in Christchurch in the South Island. Since I have never yet been to the South Island that might be a good opportunity to do so.
    Also last Monday the Hair Design Studio opened in Otahuhu so there was lots of last minute rushing around to get everything ready. The Mayoress of Otahuhu cut the ribbon and we all had some champagne the previous Friday evening to celebrate its completion. As you can see from the photographs it's a very bright and cheerful place. You've no idea what a dirty hovel it was three months ago. We stripped all the old wallpaper and muck out and redecorated and refitted the whole place from nothing. Mary's father and a number of friends helped but the layout and colour scheme were all in Mary's head, all based on the sunflower wallpaper that we found in a local shop about six months ago - before we had any idea what we might do with it. The salon is  run by a manager and two apprentices but Mary goes there each day for a visit to help them get established and works in the salon on the late night, Thursday. Otahuhu is about two miles from here so it is quite convenient. So now we both have little businesses established we can relax a bit. My university term has ended and I am busy marking examination papers which should be finished in the next ten days or so. Then I have three weeks to work on the book on NZ Industrial Relations* before Mary and I go for a week's holiday to Tutukaka in Northland, a week's complete rest by the sea. Mary's term finishes at the end of November and then she is doing four days work for South Pacific Television in Auckland helping them with hairdressing styles and cuts for various of their productions. She has a medical check up on December 9th and we go away immediately after that - as you can see from the photograph she is looking pretty good.



   This week is the anniversary of our trip to Sydney so we have been remembering that with a great deal of pleasure and thinking what an action-packed good and bad year it has been for us both. On Friday evening Mary's (Personnel Management 1974-75) class had a reunion dinner at a French restaurant in Auckland (Caballe) so we shared our anniversary with all of them which was a lot of fun. Most of them knew that Mary had been ill so they were delighted to see her looking so well. One of the class had lost his wife of cancer two years ago so he had a good idea what we had come through together. We also learned this week, something we had suspected at the time, and that was that in March the doctor told Mary's sister and brother-in-law that it was unlikely that Mary would recover from the cancer - so that just shows what love and prayers and a strong will to live can do, doesn't it?
    57, Sunnybrae Road is now definitely sold. We have also signed an agreement to buy the property at Rothesay Bay and Pat and the children were supposed to move in there last weekend. Unfortunately the weather has been so bad that the builder still doesn't have the place finished so they have moved into the house of some friends who are away until November 11th. Although Rothesay Bay is further from here than Sunnybrae Road it is a delightful spot and it is in the catchment area for Rangitoto College which I think is the best secondary school on the North Shore. It is more expensive than I think is absolutely necessary but the alternative was that Pat would stay at Sunnybrae Road with all its mortgage commitments. This new place will be mortgage free; all the proceeds of sale of Sunnybrae Road go into it and it is owned 50:50 by Pat and I until she remarries or Lewis gets to the age of 18 when it will be resold and I will get my share out. From my point of view the fact that it is new and near to the beach makes it a fairly secure investment and of course from the children's point of view that [the beach] will be a big attraction for a few years. Also Stuart wants to join Air Scouts now that he has finished with cubs and the nearest Air Scouts to Takapuna was in Browns Bay, just a mile north of Rothesay Bay. And the Real Estate Agent who sold us the Sandown Road house is a Scout commissioner and can help get Stuart into the Air Scouts! To start with therefore it will be a lot of travelling to and fro to see the children at weekends. Longer-term Mary and I may move closer to Auckland city centre eventually and then perhaps we will have enough room to have the children stay some weekends. At present John** and Lynette are still living at 1a Huia Rd and so there is no space for visitors to sleep other than in the sitting-room. We had the children over yesterday and in the evening Pat took them to a fireworks display in Takapuna.
    That's all for now.
    Love to you both,
    John and Mary

*John Deeks, James Farmer, Herbert Roth and Graham Scott, Industrial Relations in New Zealand, Wellington, Methuen Publications (N.Z.) Ltd, 1978.
**Mary's son John and his girlfriend, later wife, Lynette.

Tutukaka, 13th December 1977
    Dear Mum and Dad,
    Wish you were here! We finally got away for a week to Tutukaka and the best-earnt holiday we have both ever had. I only wish you could see the view from our motel room. As you can see from the enclosed brochure the Pacific Rendezvous is right on the cliff top and the X marks the unit we are in. From one window we can look right down Tutkaka harbour and from the other right across to the Poor Knights Islands - they are called that I think because they look like knights that have been knocked down and are lying flat on their backs, a bit like those old medieval tombs. We can walk down a path through the bush to the beach or scramble down the hillside to the rocks and fish - yesterday we caught three rock cod and had them for supper. But most of the time so far we have done mostly nothing and enjoyed every minute of it. A marvellous spot for relaxing as you can imagine. I have just finished a film in the camera so should have some photos to send you after Christmas. Thankyou for the ones of Elizabeth and yourselves, and your long letter of November 30th. We did receive the Jubilee editions of the Illustrated London News and enjoyed them very much.
    Mary got a good report from the Doctor last week. The only thing he was worried about was her weight! since she has put on another 1/2 stone in the last six months and doesn't need it. The trouble is the sea air and all the exercise here makes you very hungry. She has had to take various pills since the cancer treatment and I expect they mess up the hormone balance. We were glad to hear that Dad's ear was so much better too.
    Pat and the children are now settled at Rothesay Bay... We gave Lewis a fishing rod for his birthday and they have been trying that out on the Rothesay Bay beach but without much success so far I gather.
   The Christmas presents for the children and us have arrived safely. I have rather lost track of the posting dates for Christmas mail to the U.K. so hope this arrives on time, especially since I will post it in Tutukaka and have no idea how reliable the post is here. Considering this is summer and it is such a beautiful place it is remarkable how few people are around but then schools do not finish until the end of this week and then everyone will be busy with their Christmas shopping, including us when we get back. Mary is working in the salon next week as it is a very busy week and she will also work during January so this is our last chance to get a break together without the children for a bit. This afternoon we are taking a picnic lunch to the beach so I will try and post this letter on the way.

1a Huia Road, January 4th 1978
    Dear Mum and Dad,
    Many thanks for the lovely Worcestershire porcelain dish you sent us for Christmas. It is a real beauty. We also have some egg coddlers and a Maxine so have quite a collection building up. Thank you too for the books you sent the children. They have enjoyed reading them.
    We had a very pleasant Christmas. I collected the children on Christmas morning from Rothesay Bay and we had all the traditional Christmas lunch fare of turkey and plum pudding with them here at Huia Road. We gave Stuart a new camera - his old one was broken and it seems they are cheaper to replace than to repair! Sacha had a box of paints and Lewis a kite. We then had the children with us right through to New Year. On Boxing Day we took them to a bar-b-q and they all had a pony ride and on the next day we all went to the beach with Mary's sister Anita and her husband. After that we spent most of the time playing softball and tennis at the local park, going to the swimming pool at Papatoetoe and flying Lewis' kite. On the Friday we took them all out to dinner in Auckland and then to see the film 'Star Wars' which is all the rage here at the moment amongst the children - real old-fashioned fantasy and adventure stuff which they loved. On New Year's Eve Pat collected Stuart and Lewis and has taken them off camping with a friend, Mike, and his boy Andy who is about Lewis' age. The weather has been good this week so I expect they are having a good time. They were planning to go to Taupo and then to Napier. Sacha stayed with us over the New Year and then on Monday I took her over to Henderson, on the west side of Auckland to the Dude Ranch where she is spending this week with nine other girls riding and learning to look after horses. She's horse crazy at present so by the end of the week she will either be a total addict or never want to see another horse in her life - I think an addict is more likely. I shall pick her up on Saturday and she will stay with us until the boys come back from their camping trip. They were very excited about that so I hope they have had a lot of fun since there are plenty of beautiful places to go camping here when they are older.
    Mary and I had a very restful week at Tutukaka. I am sending you by sea a New Zealand Annual and one of the first pictures in it is of Tutukaka Harbour. I have marked the motel unit we stayed in with a X so you can see what a fantastic spot it was. We were very reluctant to come home as you can imagine. Also enclosed with this letter are some of the photographs taken when we were at Red Beach with the children in August. And a photo of Mary and I when we went down to Taupo recently to say goodbye to some friends who were supposed to be going off to England for a couple of years. Unfortunately since we went down Barry has had a boating accident and has had to have his left thumb amputated so their departure has been delayed. Talking about boating we went on a fishing trip to the Poor Knights Islands from Tutukaka. Mary caught some lovely fish and I was sea-sick all day!
    We were very pleased to hear that your ear check-up had such positive results Dad and hope the legitis is not making it too difficult for you to get around.
    Happy New Year and lots of love from us both, John and Mary.



Whale Bay, my favourite New Zealand beach, visited from Tutukaka with Mary. 

5th February 1978
    Dear Mum and Dad,
    Many thanks for your letters, both the one you wrote just before Christmas and the latest with the Christmas photos of yourselves, Ruth and Robert and Stuart and Jutka*. You all look very well - hope you are surviving the cold and snow storms we have been reading about and seeing on the TV news. Stuart took some photos of our Christmas so I hope we will get those developed soon and send you some copies. Stuart is taller than Pat now and filling out too. Lewis is still all energy and has an incredibly dark suntan. They are back at school now - Stuart and Sacha at Murray's Bay Intermediate and Lewis at Browns Bay primary. They all seem to have settled in very quickly and are very happy. They have had a marvellous holiday since it has been very hot and they have been at the beach most days swimming g and canoeing. I have been over on the odd days and gone swimming too which has been very relaxing. This weekend I picked them up after work on Friday and they spent the night here. On Saturday we got up at 6.30 and went off to the local flea-market to sell off a lot of old junk  we had cleared out of the garage together with some old clothes belonging to friends of ours who are leaving to go to England. Stuart in particular loved haggling with people, mostly Maoris and Pacific Islanders (Tongans, Samoans, Cook Islanders etc) over prices. We have been having a big clear up since we have decided to sell 1a Huia Rd. It is just too small and when the children come they all sleep in the living-room which is quite fun when it is summer but pretty hopeless when it is wet and we can't go out. At the moment we are negotiating to buy a beautiful piece of land about 4 miles from here. It is two acres and half of it is native bush, very peaceful with lots of birds and a view over the whole of South Auckland. We won't know for another month whether or not we will be able to borrow enough money to buy it but we have really fallen in love with it and have been drawing all sorts of house plans to build on it. We would have to sell Huia Rd before we could afford to build and that could take a year or more because the NZ economy is down in the dumps and no one has the money for house buying at the moment. So all our future plans at present hinge round our 'Sugar Mountain' project. If the deal does go through we will take some pictures of the section to let you see how lovely it is. Incidentally the 'flowers' Mary had in the photograph were common or garden BROOM! plucked from the countryside hedgerow.
    Sorry to hear about the new hernia and hope it is not too painful for you getting around, Dad. Lots of love from us both, John and Mary.
[*My younger sister and her son and my brother Stuart and his wife.]