Tommy Bledzing Adventures Around New Zealand - Book 1

Tommy Bledzing
Adventures around New Zealand

By Norman D. W. MacDonald

A fictional story derived from Norm's memories of Christchurch and New Zealand.
Protected by author copyright. All rights reserved.
A less-than-perfect version. There is editing and rewriting to do.
The series is intended for younger readers, so they can read about New Zealand.
Echo Dawn Media


Book One

Hi Readers,
I'm Tommy Bledzing. I'm twelve years old and I live in Christchurch, New Zealand. I was born in 1961. I am writing about some of my adventures in and around Christchurch, and New Zealand.

I broke my leg on one of my adventures and am laid up. I had lots of time on my hands while in the hospital and now at home while my leg mends so I decided to write a journal of my adventures.

My adventures outside my neighbourhood started when I was ten years old. I didn't tell my parents about some of these adventures because I was not supposed to leave the neighbourhood. But, I got to tell you, I have trouble resisting an open street or an open road. I always wonder where it will take me and what I'll see when I go down that street or road.

I have a push-bike and I am only supposed to ride around my neighbourhood, but after I became ten years old I started venturing beyond the neighbourhood, a little more each time. Our house is on Neville Street in Spreydon. It's only a mile or so from downtown.
With the family, I had been around much of Christchurch and to the ocean beaches so I knew what there was in the area. But, venturing off by myself makes the ordinary seem more adventurous.

We have a nice section. A full-size grass tennis court is beside the house. The section is full of bushes and trees which make it private from the neighbours and the street. A row of bushes separates the tennis court from the large garden in the rear. There are many flower beds spread all over. My mother loves flowers. A long driveway goes down the left side of the house to the garage behind the house. It is a lovely yard and I love it, but the world beyond beckons my adventurous spirit.

As you read, you will learn about New Zealand. So, please join me on my adventures.
 

About New Zealand

New Zealand is in the Southern Hemisphere in the South Pacific Ocean and is close to Australia. New Zealand has two large islands and a few smaller islands.

The North Island is the smaller of the two and has most of the population. The Maori are the native people. The North Island was formed mostly by volcanic activity and there are still many active volcanoes. The island is rugged with many hills and mountains.

The British made New Zealand a colony hundreds years ago. New Zealand is an independent country now, but still has close ties to Britain.

The South Island is long and narrow. There are some Maori people but it is mostly populated by people of English ancestry. My family is English. The Southern Alps are long range of mountains that runs north and south the full length of the island. The eastern side of the South Island has a long stretch of flat land between the Pacific Ocean and the mountains. It is called the Canterbury Plains.

The city of Christchurch lies about halfway down the east coast of the South Island. It is on the northern part of the Canterbury Plains, so most of Christchurch is on very flat. To the southeast of Christchurch is the Banks Peninsula. It was formed by a group of volcanoes that are now extinct. It is full of hills and mountains. Two collapsed craters make two large natural harbours. The harbour for Christchurch is Lyttleton Harbour and is separated from Christchurch by the Port Hills. The Port Hills rise as high as fifteen hundred feet. The other harbour is Akaroa Harbour farther southeast of Christchurch. The southeast boundary of Christchurch is on the lower part of the Port Hills. The Port Hills are seen clearly from all parts of Christchurch.

Christchurch is often called "The most English City outside England." It is also called "The Garden City". There is a strong British influence in Christchurch.

Being mostly flat, makes Christchurch a cyclist’s paradise. We have many push-bikes and motor scooters. Motorcars are expensive in New Zealand.

 
First Adventure Alone - Hagley Park

My first trip out of the neighbourhood by myself is to Hagley Park. It is a very large park almost dead centre in Christchurch. It was a warm Saturday morning and I just had to get out of the neighbourhood.

To get to Hagley Park, I rode my push-bike on the footpath beside Lincoln Road to where I had to cross Moorhouse Avenue. Both streets are very busy with traffic, and I was not supposed to be anywhere near them. Moorhouse Avenue is a very busy four lane street. I was a little scared but I was careful enough to cross with the traffic lights and push my push-bike across the crosswalks. I had been to the park with the family but this was the first time on my own; somehow, it felt very different. For one thing, I'd be in big trouble for going there by myself. I am only ten years old.

I got into the park safely. A very large lawn stretched out before me and there are many large trees. I rode around. This park of the park has many cricket pitches and there were games in progress. I watched the games for a while. The players are all dressed in white. It is exciting to watch the bowler pitch and when the batsman hits the ball the whole field erupts in excitement.

I left the games and rode inside the park but close to the streets bordering the park. I rode beside Moorhouse Avenue it turned onto Deans Avenue. I followed. Within a short distance I came to the traffic roundabout for Blenheim Road. I had been in the motorcar as my father drove around them, but this was the first time seeing one from the outside. I was fascinated. The motorcars just drive into the roundabout and drive out onto the street they want. They seemed to drive fast and I was surprised that they didn't bang into each other.

I watched for a while then continued ride the footpath under the huge trees bordering large lawns. some families were having picnics on the grass and there were many people walking about and many cyclists riding around the park.

After a while, I came to the Riccarton Road traffic roundabout. It was really busy. I watched for a few minutes then turned to follow Riccarton Avenue through the park. I certainly was not going to cross it. It was a long ride to the corner where Ricarrton Avenue entered the park. Many streets met at this corner; Riccarton Avenue, Tuam Street, Oxford Terrace, and Hagley Avenue.

The huge Christchurch Public Hospital was across the road. I stood watching through the busy traffic of Riccarton Avenue. Big red city buses stopped on the street outside the hospital and moved on. I stood right across the road from Casualty. I saw an ambulance come in with its siren wailing. I was so excited. It drove into a portal between two old buildings. I could just see part of what was happening. I saw the litter being pushed into Casualty.

Christchurch Public Hospital dominated the corner. The old buildings were right against the footpath beside Ricarrton Avenue. They almost created a solid wall of buildings three and four floors high. To the left is a seven storey white building that was the nurses residence; next that, is an old brick chapel, behind that some ward buildings. Most of the patient ward buildings are behind the office buildings that are along Riccarton Avenue and i could not see them. There are some portal or entrances from Riccarton Avenue that enter into the hospital. The buildings are old, many of them from the early 1900s.

One of the oldest buildings is along Oxford Terrace. It is an old red brick building of two and three floors with a black tile roof. My mother said it was the old residence for nurses. She said some students still stayed there. A high wrought iron fence closed in a courtyard carpark for the residence. A newer building at the end, I was told, was the administration office. I could not see much of it because of high bushes. Beside that building a bridge crossed the Avon River.

I had been away from home for a couple of hours, so I had better get on home. I pedalled fast inside the park next to Hagley Avenue back to the Moorhouse Avenue corner. I crossed with the lights, again walking my push-bike across. I rode as fast as I could to get back to my neighbourhood where I was supposed to be. As I turned onto Neville Street, I met Brian, my friend. He knew I had been out of the neighbourhood. I swore him to secrecy if I told him where I had gone. He was ten like me, and was not supposed to leave the neighbourhood either.

Fortunately , my parents were used to me being gone for a couple of hours so they did not ask where I had been. Brian and I had some juice and a biscuit each and went into the yard to play.

The Big Airplane

In 1971, the biggest passenger airplane in the world came to Christchurch. I just had to go and see it. It came in December just before school let out for the summer. My eleventh birthday was coming in a few months.

I just had to see the airplane. I went to school for roll call and then nipped out on the first break. Being the end of the school year things were more relaxed and I was pretty sure that no one would pay much attention to my disappearance. I hoped.
I had been to the airport with my family so I knew how to get there; I just hadn't done it on a push-bike before.

I went the same way I took to Hagley Park; only this time I crossed Riccarton Avenue. Boy is it busy. I ran across pushing my push-bike trough a gap in the traffic. There was a crosswalk over by the hospital but it was too far out of the way.

I followed Deans Avenue on the footpath in the park. This part of Hagley Park has the golf links. I came to the Fendalton Road intersection; it had traffic lights, to my relief. Fentalton Road passes through an older section of Christchurch. There are a lot of stores and business along the first part of the road. Then it goes past lots of houses. Fendalton Road leads onto Memorial Avenue that heads straight to the airport.
Memorial Avenue is a wide four lane street that has goes through a newer residential area. The area is wide open because the trees are much smaller. The houses look very modern compared to the older ones in Fendalton. Memorial Avenue is lined with trees. It is a straight flat right to the airport. I could just make out the airport in the distance as I rode down Memorial Avenue. The terminal building got bigger and bigger the closer I came. I could see airplanes flying in and out. As I got closer, I could hear the whine of the jet engines. It was thrilling. I pedaled harder to get there faster.

The terminal building has a viewing area on the roof to the right of the control tower. I parked my push-bike at the under the stairway and ran up the stairs. The big plane gradually came in view as I crossed the roof. The tail of the plane was higher than the roof. As I got close to the railing, the airplane looked enormous. It was much bigger than any other airplane at the airport. It was gleaming white in the bright sunshine. People were walking around under the airplane and they looked so tiny next to it. The rooftop viewing area became crowded quickly so I went down stairs and into the terminal. I saw a signboard about the airplane. It was the new Boeing 747. The information was staggering. It was bigger than houses and tall. The cockpit was way above the ground. I couldn't see how they could even see the ground being so far up.
The terminal was crowded but I did get over by a window and looked at the airplane from ground level. It was huge. I read that the airplane was leaving at twelve o'clock. The terminal and the viewing ware were really crowded. Lots of people wanted to see this big airplane.

I hoped my father was still at work. I didn't want to run into him here.
I decided to ride my bike to get close to the end of the runway so I could watch the airplane take off. I rode my push-bike beside Johns Road. I found a small road that ran along the airport fence and went past the end of the runway. I stopped at the fence and could see straight down the runway. The end of the runway was not very far from me. I stood there looking. The heat shimmered off the tarseal of the runway.

I thought that I'd get a good view of the airplane either way. If it was taking off from this end I could see it close up; if it took off from the other end it would fly right over me. I was by myself until a motorcar stopped down the road.

I waited and waited; I was hot and thirsty. The far end of the runway was hidden in the shimmering heat. I could see something moving but it wasn't clear. I heard a noise that started getting louder and louder. A dust cloud rose in the distance and the shimmering got more confused. The roaring noise got louder and a white round thing poked out of the shimmering light that parted even more; the plane came out as if passing through a curtain. The roar was really louder and getting louder. The airplane got bigger and bigger the ground shook and dust flew everywhere. The plane just kept heading straight towards me. I suddenly got scared; it was not going to leave the ground.

This huge thing was rushing right at me, followed by an enormous dust cloud, then the nose slowly lifted and the plane tilted up. The multitude of wheels left the ground row by row. I could see everyone. The noise was incredible. The plane passed right over my head. I didn't think it was even fifty feet above me. I looked at its belly with the wheels hanging down; it seemed to hang there and not move for a moment. I thought it was going to come down on top of me. I reached for my push-bike. The roar got extremely loud even though I had my hands over my ears. I could see the fire in the engines as it went past and a strong blast of hot air blew at me and the dust cloud swirled all around me, as I watched the wheels lift into the plane's belly. It didn't take long before it became a tiny speck and disappeared.

I was fascinated. The airplane was huge and the noise was incredible. It was a thrill to be there to see it.

The Groynes

See a picture of The Groynes at the bottom of the blog site.

Another day that summer, I ventured past the airport. I had seen on a map a place called The Groynes. I asked my father about it, he said he thought it was some kind of park. He had never been there. I asked if we could go there; he said maybe sometime.
I was curious; it was not far past the airport. I determined in my mind that I was going to go there. I asked my friend Brian if he wanted to go.

So far my parents hadn't heard about my skipping school and going to see the big plane. I was excited about it but I couldn't talk about what I had done. The Wednesday edition of the Christchurch Star ran a big story about the big airplane's visit. After reading the article, I could freely talk about the airplane. I had to be careful to stick close to the story in the paper. It wouldn't do to reveal too much and have my parents find out I was actually there.

Anyway, it is the same route to get to The Groynes as to the airport, except The Groynes is a mile or so farther on Johns Road.

I talked it over with Brian and he wanted but was scared if his parents found out. We worked on a couple of stories. We would hint to my parents I was hanging out at his house to do something and he would hint to his parents that he would be at my house. We suggested we would be at each others house three or four hours. Our parents knew each other but were not friends so the likelihood of them discussing our activities together was slim.

Our alibi set, we planned the day to do the trip on. Brian had never been out of the neigbourhood on his push-bike before. He was fascinated by my airport trip.
We chose to go on a Sunday because there would be less traffic. The day came and we loaded a small backpack with some water and some biscuits. I led the way to Moorhouse Avenue, Brian was scared to cross the busy street but I encouraged him and got him across. He loved Hagley Park. He had never been in this part of the park. We rode on the footpath to Riccarton Avenue and waited for a break in traffic before running across pushing our push-bikes. We rode past the golf links to the Fendalton Road intersection.

Fendalton is normally a busy shopping area but being Sunday there was no shopping allowed. Brian loved it when we got onto the footpath beside Memorial Avenue. The area was new and more open than the neighbourhoods we passed through. He really enjoyed the airport.

I took him on the viewing roof and told him where the big plane was and tried to describe it to him. We didn't stay long because we wanted to get to The Groynes. I showed him the spot at the end of the runway where I watched the plane fly over my head.
Another mile or so on Johns Road, we came to Groynes Road and turned left. Down the road a few hundred feet was a large grove of trees. We had new energy and pedalled fast to see who would make it there first. Brian got out ahead of me and beat me into the park. We had been out in the hot sun for over an hour and were feeling really hot and sweaty. In the grove of trees we found a small lake with large weeping willow trees dipping their branches into the water. We were the only ones around, so the place was really quiet. Water fowl were swimming about on the tranquil water. Birds chirped and flew among the trees.

It was so peaceful, we kept quiet and laid down on the grass by the lake to rest. There were so many big trees that only parts of the sky could be seen. The park was shady and cool, and so quiet, no traffic noise. Even the sound off airplanes taking off was muffled. I fell asleep and I think Brian did too.

I woke totally relaxed. When I got up, Brian got up as well. We stood and looked around. A family arrived by motorcar and were setting up a picnic at one of the tables. Another motorcar came in and drove around then left. Brian I watched the waterfowl, geese and ducks, paddling across the still water. Close to shore weeds are in the water in some spots. There were not many insects. We walked slowly along the shore to the right. A little point of land juts out into the water. The shore has cement cylinders standing in the water. The cylinders are about three feet in diameter and give a clean line at the water edge. I couldn't see the bottom at this spot. On a warm day like it was it was tempting to go for a swim, but we weren't sure if the water was safe.

We wandered around walking the shore of the small lake. We skipped some rocks. It was so quiet and relaxing, we didn't want to leave. But, it was time to head back home before our parents started looking for us.

We followed the same route back home. It was much easier on a Sunday because there was so little traffic.

We stopped at Brian's house first. His mother did ask what we had been doing and we weren't going to tell. Brian got a cold drink from the fridge for us and grabbed a couple of biscuits.

I hung out for a while and then went home. My mother asked how it was at Brian's. I told her it was good without going into detail. I was relieved when she didn't ask for more detail.

My second adventure out of the neighbourhood went well. I was pleased with myself, though I know I shouldn't hide stuff like that from my parents.

I'll be eleven soon and I am so tired of just being in the neighbourhood; I know it inside and out. I want some adventure.

Every year Dad tries to take us on a motor trip for a week or two. As a family, we go to the beaches and over to Lyttleton. We even drove the Summit Road on the Port Hills a couple of times. It is great because you can look down and see the whole city of Christchurch spread out below. At night with the lights on, the city sparkles.

These things are fun, but I still want to get out on my own. I am curious about what's out past what I can see.