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A history tour

I spent a day away up north recently, at a day long meeting of a group I belong to, and we had a bus tour around the area. It was one of those places where you think, I could live here. Quiet and beautiful, with the harbour and the sea not far away, only an hour down the motorway to the big smoke. We learnt about the history of the area: a group of settlers from the UK who were promised land, came out to New Zealand, only to find the promised land was covered in bush and the land unsuitable for making a living.



Some of the settlers decided to go elsewhere while some persisted and their descendants are there today. It's hard to imagine getting off a boat and trekking days through bush with your belongings to find the promised acres, as we sat in the comfort of the bus.



We visited an old school hall that a very generous benefactor had given money for to completely renovate it, and  a chapel, overseen by a board, who are hoping to get more weddings in the cute old church. It's one of the tiniest churches I've ever been in!



We heard a talk related to the local Māori cultural centre, and our speaker described the vision he'd had years ago for such a place, and how the dream attracted the people, the building itself (which had to be shipped over from one of the islands in the Hauraki gulf), the funds, and the land itself. Groups like ours can hire out the facility.



It was a good day out from work and writing, and fortunately there was no desire to write a book, inspired by the day, because I'd go down the rabbit hole of research, and run out of steam to write the actual book, I reckon!




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