From Otaki to Oranges and Sunshine

It was a lovely day for a drive up to Otaki.  The last of the snowfall was fast disappearing from the Tararua Ranges.

Not much snow on the Tararua Ranges now

There was quite an audience while we had stopped on the side of the road to take photos.  The young calves were very interested in what we were doing.  By the time we got back into the car, the whole herd had gathered to check us out.

What’s going on?We want to see too

All our SLG friends met at Jan and John’s home for morning tea and our Annual Draw.  Our Super Leisure Group is a group of friends from way back.  About 20 years ago we decided that the best way to ensure that our busy lives don’t get in the way of us getting together regularly was to ensure that we plan monthly outings.  Hence our SLG was born, and each year we get together to draw a month out of the hat for the following year.  That particular  month is your month to plan an outing for the whole group, and can be whatever you want.  In our early days we used to do a lot of bush walks, climbing hills and that sort of thing, but we are a little more sedate these days.  With this business out of the way, we travelled back down to Waikanae for lunch.  Roast lamb was on the menu and most of us chose that.  With the price of a leg of lamb on the domestic market so high it is a luxury item these days, we were all looking forward to our meal. Sadly, our lamb was rather chewy and not as tender as it should have been, so that was a disappointment indeed.  I noticed that I was the only one of our group who told the staff that I was disappointed in my lunch.

Waiting for our roast lamb

John had arranged a trip to the movies after lunch.  We saw the film “Oranges and Sunshine” which told the true but hidden story of the deportation of over 120,000 British children to Australia during and after WW11.  These children were separated from their families, many were told that their parents had died and they were shipped off to the promise of oranges and sunshine.  On arrival the children’s hopes of a happy life were dashed as many were treated as slave labour by the Christian Brothers they were entrusted to, and suffered lives of violence and abuse.  On hearing these stories, social worker Margaret Humphries from Nottingham travelled to Australia to find the truth, and after working tirelessly the unbelievable story was finally exposed in Britain and worldwide in the late 1980s.  This gritty film certainly moved our group, and had me dabbing my eyes throughout.  I wasn’t the only one to emerge with pink eyes after the performance.