Cool and windy - the warm weather is coming after I leave, of course. I really felt cold. The usual routine in the morning, cappuccino, almond croissant and the newspaper. Ross had some business in another part of town and suggested I scope out a mall with discounted designer clothes. Great bargains for men -Lauren etc. - not so-so for women. Got a couple of things. Then we met for lunch, after which we went for a drive to a historic village 50km north of Auckland. It doesn't take long to bin the middle of nowhere in this country, once you leave a town or city.
We headed for Puhoi which was settled by Bohemians in 1863 - Bohemian as is Czech!!!! 82 Bohemians from Staab landed there after a four-mont voyage via cutter and then up the Puhoi River in Maori canoes. The story is familiar......the NZ government wanted to find suitable people to settle the area which was touted as the land of milk and honey. 40 acres of free land for each adult and 20 acres for each child between 5 and 18. How could they refuse? They faced difficult political and religious times at home and the average family could obtain about 140 acres. What they had not been told was that this particular block was steep, not conducive to cultivation and covered in impregnable heavy native forest. Similar to our Pilgrims, the Bohemians had a very difficult time and were saved from starvation by the Maoris who brought them vegetables and fruit and taught them survival skills.
What is left today is a tiny village consisting of a tiny church, pub, a hotel, an antique store, a tea room and the tiniest library I have ever seen. There are 380 survivors of the initial group scattered around the area. Traditions are kept alive through music and dance.
Puhoi then:
Puhoi now:
After poking around, we settled in for tea at the oldest tea room in New Zealand...and, by the way, the home of the largest scones. Well, large they were - humongous - and dreadful! The owner, a Yorkshireman, sat down near us and started to play blues on his guitar. It was so incongruous - a Yorkshireman in an historic Bohemian village in New Zealand, serving scones the size of Ethiopia and playing American blues. You can imagine how hard it was not to burst out laughing....but we were very good. Every day brings an adventure.
The day ended with champagne and smoked salmon at David and Karen's with Jan and Layne, followed by dinner at an Indian restaurant, Yum. It was a fun evening - how we laughed. A preview of the cruise to come when the six of us will be at the same table in the dining room.
Hey, Elaine, Bill and I had an uneventful trip to Pittsburgh yesterday. We arrived at Jess and D's beautiful home about 1:15 pm. After unloading our stuff and catching up, we walked across the street to The Frick Museum. Jess had made reservations for Tea. We had her baby, Sofia, with us. Sofia, who is 7 months old was as good as gold while we enjoyed our scrumptious assortment of tea sandwiches, scones, and truffles. When D got home from work, he came in lugging a Christmas tree over his shoulder! We had fun getting it set into it's stand and oohing and ahing over his terrific choice of a tree. During happy hour, D strung the lights. Now the house has a wonderful aroma from the tree! Today, we will probably take a ride through my college campus which is in this neighborhood, then, I think we have a misssion to look for some kind of a single bed to place in the nursery. It's a nice sunny day here...but coolish. We're loving all your photos. That new camera of yours has so many bells and whistles that it will just take a lot of "doing" to get the hang of all the modes. I'm still learning on mine; the beauty is the delete mode. Continue having fun Love and Ciao, Bill and Julie
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