It's a hull of a small world

During dinner at the James Cook Hotel on our last night in Wellington, Frank got chatting to some people in line for the buffet, and discovered that they were part of a global Rotary Club conference touring NZ. When he asked if they had any Canadians in the group, he was directed to a couple seated at a nearby table, so he went over to say hello. In the course of the conversation, Frank mentioned that he had just retired from a college in Ontario, and the lady asked him which one--when he said Fanshawe, she gasped. "My nephew's wife works there! Do you know Bernice Hull?" So we met Randy Hull's Aunt Kathy and Uncle Norman O'Neill from Colborne, Ontario. Norman is involved in selling lumber, so Frank will be visiting him when we get home. Small world, indeed! The next morning, we found each other again on the ferry across Cook Strait, so I snapped a photo of them enjoying the ride despite the rainy weather.


We arrived in Picton and drove to just north of Christchurch, where we spent the night at The Fairways B & B again (we stopped here on our way north in January), enjoying the spacious suite and yummy breakfast provided by Chris Cole. Monday was a long driving day, past Dunedin and into new horizons as we travelled to the very bottom of the South Island, past Invercargill to the small harbour town of Riverton. Along the way, it rained on and off, but as we neared our destination the late afternoon sun lit up almost impossibly emerald-green hills scattered with white rice grains of sheep. Gorgeous!
We arrived in Riverton at 5 p.m., and caught Gus, our local contact, just as he was locking up his real estate business on the main street. Nevertheless, he greeted us warmly and immediately lead us to our home for the week. This house is bigger than it looks from the front, and has a maze of four bedrooms. It is quite quaint, and is giving Frank a new skill--that of stoking a coal-fueled stove in the kitchen! Observing how erratic the heat is, and how much attention it requires, I have a new respect for our pioneering ancestors who cooked all their families' meals in and on these contraptions. We, however, also have an electric stove and a microwave, so are using the stove just for heat--the temps are near freezing overnight down here. With the heat from the stove plus an oil-filled space heater, plus flannel sheets and two 'eiderdowns' (as Gus named them) on our big bed, we were quite cozy last night and had a wonderful sleep. This morning is drizzly and grey, but we have a wonderful view of the harbour, which is right across the street. Stay tuned for our Southland adventures this week!