Back on the North Island ...

Our first stop back on the North Island was back at our friend’s, Joanne, in Otaki. Whilst there we also revisited the Coehaven Cinema where we watched ‘Female Agents’ – a wonderful film about the French Resistance, albeit quite harrowing in parts. We also reconnected with our friend Lynne Hurley whose parents and family live in Suffolk! We enjoyed a wonderful evening with Lynne at a seafront restaurant, The Fisherman’s Table, and lunch the next day at The Brown Sugar Cafe in Otaki before we dropped her at the bus stop from where she returned to Wellington. I know we will see Lynne again back in the UK, if and when she visits or returns. She is very interested in 7 Words (as is Joanne) and they may be the first 7 Words Associates in New Zealand?

We then retraced our steps (drive really!) back to Hastings, on the East coast, to stay once more with Jocelyn where we were privileged to be invited to join a meeting of a small group of pioneers working to establish the first Non-Violent Communication Centre in New Zealand. This included another friend from Dance Camp, Laura, whom we hadn’t seen since Dance Camp. It was lovely to see Jocelyn and Laura again. We wish them and their fellow pioneers well with their NVC Centre and we very much look forward to keeping in touch and hearing how things develop.

Thence to Taupo where we hoped our friend Di would be in and that she’d remember us from our previous trip last year. She was, and she did! It was lovely to see her and the children again, and to meet her husband, Colin, this time. Watched ‘Happy Feet’ – their daughter’s favourite movie – beautiful! And had our first ever go on a Wii system, playing tennis, baseball, golf and ten pin bowling – very strange! They were extremely welcoming, as before, and said we could stay as long as we liked, which was fantastic and delightful. However, we had to move on so that we could visit our friends in Rotorua before heading back to Aio Wira to fast!

So, we arrived at Dagma and Steve’s in Rotorua on 17^th March, St Patrick’s Day. It was wonderful to see them again. Julie and Dagma have been friends since they worked together in Auckland when Julie visited NZ ten years ago. Peter, one of their three sons, was three the next day, so we got to help ‘build’ his cake! We also made peach chutney – yum! Sad that we’d had so little time with them, we had to move on to get to Aio Wira in time to start the fast.