Boxing Day
Was a fairly lazy day, we all set off down to Long Beach from where I Skyped the oldies. Amazing how far technology has come when you think about it. I was able to have a voice and video conversation with people across the other side of the world from a 10” Netbook equipped with a Mobile Wireless Broadband dongle, all while sitting on a beach in the sun!
The kids played in the sand whilst the adults soaked up the rays.
After that I headed off into town to take a few pictures and have a beer.
Russell is swamped in history as it was the first permanent European settlement in New Zealand. The Maori were happy to trade food and timber in return for firearms, alcohol and other manufactured goods. This resulted in Russell being a busy port but also meant that it gained a reputation for lawlessness and prostitution and became known as, “The Hell Hole of the Pacific”.
It is now a popular holiday destination with a population of nearly 900 and many holiday homes. It is also home to New Zealand’s oldest surviving industrial building (Pompallier Mission) and Christ Church, which happens to be the country’s oldest surviving church, and probably the most photographed as well.
A few more beers that evening and then back to our temporary accommodation. We had a couple of extra guests that were discovered during our stay in Russell. Here is one of them that we named, but I can’t remember the name now…
So 7 months in as of Boxing Day. Not much else to report for today, a nice short post.
2 comments:
his name was Bert!
So it was!
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