Doyles

The road to Ruapuna was a lovely drive. I had the impression I was in somewhere like the midwest. Long straight roads, and flat lands. The instructions given to us by Adrienne where pinpoint accurate and by mid afternoon we were in the land that Margan came from.

And what an incredible place to look at. A large flat plain which ends at the foot of Mount Peel. Mount peel with slightly misty shadows in purples, dark brown, blacks and nearly a blue colour. Slightly shrouded in a thin mist. Absolutely incredible.

I could so easily imagine a young Margan on a pony making her way down a track, dust kicked up by the hooves. Behind us as we drove a plume of white dust thrown up from the unmade road by our wheels seemed to echo that thought.

We came to Ruapuna mid afternoon, which seemed to consist of a cross roads with a small church a hall, plus one homestead. We took a few pictures and then - being slightly too early, checked their driveway, and moved on. Driving empty dusty roads that stretched for ever.

You have to actually experience this place to get any sense of it; such apparently endless roads; huge fields with big piles of stones gathered together in them in large mounds. Massive irrigation machines stretching thier matallic wings over the fields of - what was it? Kale? Maybe. A place of a different scale and space than I have ever seen before.

Eventually we drove down the long drive to Neil and Adrienne's homestead. Rang the brass bell that hung outside the door.

Adrienne came to the door, an elegant smiling lady, very smartly dressed. Then Neil thin, red faced, with some kind of mischivious twinkle in his eye. I had the feeling that we were going to get on well straight away. And we did.

I was installed in a what Neil described as the "The dog box" - actually a rather nice little room (en suite) off the garage.

We had a few drinks and nibbles on a verandah and I marvelled at the Garden which sported a pond to make mine at home look like a puddle, a white sculpture nestling in a shaped border, lovely trees.

This was the house where Grandma Doyle lived, (that's my Great Grandmother - I think). Neil is Mum's second cousin (again I think). The family tree came out - (the one drawn in a criclular fashion) and although I could see myself and Geg on the map - I couldn't quite work out the relationships bewtween people I didn't know. I have a copy of this at home, and when I get back I will post it up here for general presusal. I expect a lot of you will know it.


Neil, was self effacing, but it transpired had been a racing driver. The following potted biography is from Adriene:

"He raced for about 8 years starting with saloon cars - originally just one, a highly modified Anglia, to which he had fitted a corvette motor and it went like a robber's dog! He had quite a bit of success in that and then he moved onto single seater race cars, namely a Begg Formula 5000 and then, while he was in England bought John Surtee's Formula one car and had quite a bit of success with that in New Zealand also.

He gave up once we were married to concentrate on farming, anyway he could not afford both race cars and me!!!! Just for the record, we have 2 sons, one married and running the farm and the other a helicopter pilot in Australia. Neil could now be best described as semi retired from the farm as James is pretty much the manager."

After a lovely evening drinking wine and eating local mutton, an evening laced with laughter and fun I retired to bed very peacefully.

In the morning we were taken by Neil to a house down the road and (as I understand it) this is where Margan lived as little girl. It belonged to Edward. It's now lived in by a woman called (approriatley) Liz, and the Garden has been worked on and cultivated into a labarynthian set of lawns and trees with borders all around. Lovely.
Again I could imagine Margan wondering around (not the same gardens - they are later) here, sitting under the porch, I could really imagine it.
So it was a really good meeting and I felt that it was the drawing together of the journey, and as we left the Doyle's and headed west back towards the sea I was so glad we had come all this way.