Jack and Katrina's Place

Well what a big weekend that was, so big it's taken me until today to get stuff together enough to make a blog entry. Guy travelled really well in the car for a 1000km or so, On the way back he slept after we stopped at a friends place in Reparoa, kept sleeping while we checked out Huka Falls, and slept all the way until we stopped for coffee at Taihape. Then he was the most endearing baby smiling at everyone in the coffee shop. Another big sleep took us to Levin for a snack burger for Kat and I. That proved to be the final straw and he woke up to find himself still strapped into the stupid backwards facing seat, now in the dark. After a few kilometers of screaming we stopped and he had a big feed near Otaki, but only a few kilometres south of there at Waikanae we had to stop again. I pulled into a rest area between the highway and the railway. He stopped crying as soon as he was picked up, just need some reassurance. While he was awake in my arms a big freight train came past, I covered his ears but his little eyes were as wide as saucers.

The reunion was enlightening, Cousin Kathy has some great pictures onher website (my cousin Ben) but the gist of it was we established Guy is the 7th generation to descend from Reverend Seymour Mills Spencer who ran arrived in 1842 to run a Mission on the shores of Lake Tarawera amongst the Tuhorangi hapu of the Te Arawa. His youngest son Frederick also became a minister, at St Faith's Chruch on the shores of Lake Rotorua. All of the New Zealand family are descended from Frederick.

Before becoming a minister Frederick spent time exploring the North west corner of the South Island, including the plateau at Denniston above Westport. I have been to Denniston three times, and always found it a curiously compelling piece of country, although I never knew of the link until now.

Anyway we caught up with all the family, and here are some photos, sorry they are a bit dark and grey.