Monday 28 January 2019

Greetings to all.
All of my previous blogs have been reports of happenings on the mission field of Zimbabwe which has very much become a big part of my life.
However, having said that, Glen (my husband) dcided that after spending the past five years or so on the mission field supporting me in my work, it was time for the two of us to take an actual holiday.  So he booked a trip to New Zealand for us and so here we are.

Why New Zealnd, you might very well ask.  Well, Glen has for a long time had a desire to visit New Zealand.  I had been once many years ago, but he had never been.
Long back, when my grandfather came to Canada, a bother of his went to New Zealand.  Nearly thirty years ago, I connected with the cousins and have once visited New Zealand (twenty-eight years ago).  Two of the cousins and their wives subsequently visited us in Canada...and now we are once again reconnecting.  It is quite delightful, actually, to spend time reconnecting and to meet some of those who have since come into the family.
Besides visiting, we are doing a fair amount of touring, much of it with the relatives, but also some on our own.  we have so far been on the North island and next week will be taking the ferry over to the south Island and have booked a bus tour to see that Island as well.  When I travelled years back, accompanying my parents so dad could meet his first cousins, we only toured the North Island as that's where all the relatives lived.
Reconnecting, meeting those I had not met previously, and spending time with relatives is, and has been, to this point, the very highlights of our tour.  We spend much time talking about our ancestors and chatting about the similarities we share.  Of course, we are also seeing and enjoying the many wonders of God's creation.

In my travels to numerous countries in the world, I have discovered that every place has its own beauty.  I have just inserted a couple of picures of the beauty we have discovered in New Zealand.

This next shot is one taken as we sat enjoying breakfast at a sidewalk cafe.  As you can see we had a visitor come and help us with our leftovers.
This was taken on our tour of the Cape on the very North end of New Zealand's North coast
 
I realize this is just a snipet of our tour of New Zealand's North Island.  More to come later, after, or during, our trip to the South Island.
Blessings
Marj