Te Marie bridge - the only connection out to the main road, in fact the only bridge that crossed the mighty Wanganui River for miles !
My family moved to the sheep and cattle farm called Patunga when I was 6 months old, my Father starting off as the farm general hand and moving us from the cottage to the much larger farm house when he became the farm manager, a position he held until we left the district 12 years later.
Pictured on the left is my Dad on his work vehicle, in front of the cottage. The farm was mainly very steep hillsides 
with some native bush covering left and rushing streams full of mossy stones and great swimming holes. It was a wonderous place to grow up, the main farm house being built in the early 20th century and surrounded by large English style gardens - more about that later .. The 2nd picture is Dad with my sister and I - I must have been looking into the sun, we were most probably off to town for our weekly excursion. The closest shops were in Taumaranui, a small town that served the surrounding farming community and local saw mills. It took forever in a small child`s mind,but was probably only about 45mins to get to town over windy, metal roads including a bluff. As I grew older we would be picked up from school on a friday afternoon and the rest of the day would consist of my piano lesson while the parents shopped, then fish and chips for tea at my Aunty and Uncle`s home in the town - always a treat to look forward to - the country cousins experiencing a town cousins life - street lights and traffic, so different to the blackness we were used to - no other lights to be seen, just a Morepork ( owl) calling and maybe a kiwi if we were lucky ...
