Growing up in New Zealand

Growing up in Christchurch New Zealand was more relaxed than it is these days.

When we were young we would all walk to school and back again every day  even on rainy days !

We would all have our different coloured anoraks on and must have looked like a long coloured caterpillar winding our way through the streets of Christchurch !

We were taught that if an earth quake hit we were all to get under our desks fast  , however back then it was never necessary to do so.

Other things we did were pippying at the beach digging our feet in the sand where we saw traces of seaweed & then filling our buckets up with them,  

Mum would boil them when we got home, It was my job to get them out of their shells then they would be cookled then put in a jar to soak in vinegar !

They were delicious!

Occasionally on the way home from Brighton Beach we would be allowed an ice cream !

We would go fishing at Birdlings Flat , rock climbing and have a fire on the beach as the sun was going down !

Walking up to Christchurch square and the Wizard as he was called was often there on his box.!

Biking around to the parks to play , If you found 1 cent you could go to the dairy & buy 3 lollies !

When I was 11 we moved to the country out past Rangiora  & I went to Ashley school for a couple of years where I learnt to swim finally !

I loved it out on Marshmans road where we could wander for hours picking blackberries , playing in stony creek , exploring old abandoned houses .

We used to walk down our long drive way to catch the school bus every day !

We moved to Nelson when I was 14.

Dad bought a shop there - 2nd hand clothing called Rethreads & I worked there for a few years untill I

got married at 18.

I rode my bike to & from work every day which I enjoyed.