kaihoe

Hi all..been lurking for a little while,I,m originally from CO Durham,,Old Penshaw where the monument and the worm is..lol,first came here on a ship liked the look of the place and came back in 64,have lived in Hawkes Bay since,Clive then Havelock North.

scrubbedexpat094

Welcome to our cosy New Zealand forum kaihoe Good to know you've been tempted out of lurk mode. Happy posting

BEVS

Good move to start to introduce yourself mate . Thank you.

Welcome to you and to all of yours too .

Havelock North is a posh bit of Hastings and Napier from what we know , having toured and decided on a place to live.

So. You came here on a ship. Merchant seaman perhaps. From when and where ?

It's interesting

kaihoe

Came to NZ first in 1960 as engineer on a trampship first port Auckland then Napier liked the look of the place and worked my passage from Liverpool to Sydney and flew over to Wellington on a plane with propellors!!in 1964,took the railcar to Napier and started work the next day,no visas no medicals,no points,no bulls**t,doesnt seem so easy nowadays,it was said back then,the prime minister knew the name of everyone on the dole !!!!

Whilst I,m here,I tried to put up an animated avatar,no joy, mind telling me why ??

BEVS

No I don't mind.

Only premium members can put up an animated avatar. That's why I don't have one.

The first time we ever came to NZ we stopped for a few days with a chap who had also been a merchant seaman. Way back in the '50's or a wee bit before. He liked what he saw and found out NZ wanted bricklayers. So he went back to the UK and retrained. By the time he'd done that NZ no longer wanted bricklayers so he went back to being a merchant seaman.

Once in sniffing distance of NZ he jumped ship and made his way to NZ where he stayed and settled. His new wife of that time then had to decide whether or not to join him. When she left her ship to set foot on NZ soil for the first time , she was rowed ashore.

They settled in Tauranga when there was not much. He told us that the whole town went to see the first traffic light operating.

He was a really, really interesting bloke & one of the reasons our interest in NZ remained.

Boopy

hey kaihoe, I'm from shiney row.... small world eh! we've been in nz nearly 5 years now. when did you leave penshaw?

kaihoe

Hiya Boopy..What Fettle ?...Small world indeed,I left Penshaw Feb 1964,my mother lived at Council Ave,Istill have cuzzies in old penshaw,a bro in Brandon and a sis in Kidderminster.Nice to hear from you,hope you are enjoying NZ

Boopy

Hey K, send me a Private Message & tell me who your cuzzies are.... I may know them?