The Way To See New Zealand
The competition for the main teams is keen, for the honour is great, and the fun tremendous. There is terrific rivalry between schools, and the trips to play games are always the highlights of the season.
In the first term I went on two rowing trips – regattas at Lake Karapiro near Cambridge, a beautiful very ‘English’ town in the central North Island; and at Wanganui. On the Karapiro trip, we made the journey north on the Friday, with the boats tied to the top of the bus. One of the boy’s parents turned on afternoon tea for the fifty of us on the way up, and we arrived in time to unload the boats and have a quick row before an early bed, also with parents of boys at the school.
Karapiro is a beautiful lake formed behind the great Karapiro hydro dam. Surrounded by trees, it is about 12 miles long and one mile wide, and so can accommodate 20 boats racing at once. The weather was fine and crowds soon gathered, although we were far too busy worrying and getting ready to notice. After the race in which we came third, we had time to look around and in the evening we enjoyed a barbecue by the lakeside.
The Wanganui trip lasted just a day. The bus journey took us down the coast through many interesting districts. After the regatta we looked around the town of Wanganui before returning. On the way back, at about 9pm, we had a dip in the open-air William Birth pool near Maxwell; very cold but fun in the dark. The rest of the journey we had a sing-song. (Note: from memory, this bus trip was also my initiation into the joys and ills of beer-drinking sessions).
This traditional trip is much looked forward to. For days beforehand boys in Pridham House had been preparing large banners and coloured streamers on sticks, all with the school colours. This was against the headmaster’s rules but is a long-standing tradition.
They were smuggled to the station, and in Hawera were held up high in the procession from the station to the football ground (also against the rules). The game itself was very exciting. At half-time St Pats were in the lead, but a few minutes before the end we scored, making the final score 8-6 to us. Every time we scored the school stood up and performed the impressive school haka and after the game there was a victory march back to the train. One of the main traditions was to stream rolls of toilet paper out of the train windows- but now this has been stopped, and people on the way say they can no longer recognize our train!
Sometimes, however, you have to make your own way to a match. Such was the case with the football game against Auckland Grammar School. The team of course have a bus, but others have to arrange their own transport. It is illegal to hitchhike, but as soon as you are under your parent’s control of course you are a free agent, so my mother picked up a friend and myself on the Friday (the last day of term) at about 3pm and drove us a little way north of New Plymouth. We took 7 ½ hours to cover the 250 miles to Auckland and arrived at 10.30pm – pretty good going for hitch-hiking we thought! The hardest part was getting through the large towns of which fortunately there were few. There are no by-passes however, and if dropped at one side of a town, a bus is the only way to get to the other. Hamilton, the only large town on our route, took us an hour to get through. Our lifts were very varied; such as a parent taking his boy home, a university student going to fetch his girl-friend, and a truck driver. People were very friendly and we hitched much more than we hiked!
On arrival at the football ground the next day, we saw a large placard “NPBHS”, and found sitting beneath it some 200 supporters. Many of these were Auckland old-boys, but there were about 70 present boys, all of whom had made their own way up the previous day. With our vocal help (far surpassing that of our Auckland opponents) our team pressed forward to a well-deserved victory. That night there was a dance, and the following day I explored some of Auckland and surrounds, including the famous harbour bridge – it was my first visit to Auckland.
We made a start at about 7am the next morning and after a bus ride to get out of Auckland we soon got our first lift. Then we split up to go to our respective homes – Wellington, Opotiki and Stratford. I soon got a lift to Hamilton and took about an hour to get through it again. Then my troubles started! It was a hot day and the traffic was very scanty, at times only about one car every five minutes. After several lifts, on one of my long walking spells, who should pass by but the head-master also returning with his family after the game. He looked very surprised and somewhat annoyed. Fortunately nothing happened when I returned to school the next term.
At last, at about 4pm, I reached my home in Stratford, feeling I’d had enough travelling for one weekend, but pleased at having witnessed the school’s triumph, and having visited Auckland, a city well worth the trip.