'The Verandah at Coolalie'

Mother like her father 'Frank' Hudleston was passionately fond of cats, and Audrey is depicted holding Toto, and Julia is holding Rangi. The names were taken from a volcano called Rangitoto in the middle of Auckland harbour.

Our father, Graham Hyde, was an orchardist and we were brought up in a small house on an orchard block - citrus fruits, 'tree tomatoes' (later called tamarillos) and Chinese gooseberries (later called Kiwi fruit). The property was called 'Coolalie' which I think was an Australian Aboriginal term for 'Home of the West Wind'.

There was no electricity until I was about twelve years old and outside the house was a wood fired 'copper' in which mother washed the clothes. She had some galvanised iron tubs for soaking and rinsing clothes and a scrubbing board. Sometimes she would wash some in the local creek (stream) than ran along the lower boundary of the property.

In the photo above, the building on the left was a garage/packing shed, next the outside toilet. In between the two buildings can just be seen a wood fired 'copper'. In the front left of the house is two galvanised steel tanks used to collect rainwater run-off from the roof - this water being used for cooking and drinking. The small verandah on which our photo was taken is visible.

Mother was an excellent cook and used a wood fired stove. There was a petrol driven pump which supplied bore water for irrigation.

A car-battery powered radio was used to keep in contact with events occurring in the outside world. This was charged either at the garage in the local village (Kerikeri - Bay of Islands - New Zealand) or by interchanging it periodically with the one in the car (it is a shame I can't say bicycle).

The house was demolished about 30 years ago and replaced with an 'A' frame building.

Footnote:
The outside toilet was indeed rather far to go to from the house in wet weather. However in later years a beautiful tree grew outside its front door. This attracted birds, in particular the N.Z. fantail, whose darting movements were delightful to watch - once the door was partially opened. This bird liked the small 'midges' which in turn were attracted by the toilet - which was basically a toilet chair over a deep hole in the ground. To complete the biological cycle I guess we should have eaten the birds.