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David and Gavin Cochran lighting a fire on Cobden beach.1960s.
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DescriptionDavid and Gavin Cochran, cooking a meal on Cobden beach.Date of Photo1960`sMap[1] ContributorHeather Newby
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Location (city or town)Cobden Person Gavin Cochrane David CochraneEventDavid and Gavin Cochran lighting a fire on Cobden beach.1960s.
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Date Created30th June 2019CommentsWayne Leckie Yes they were yummy
Sandra Skates It's ashame we can't cook on the beach now
Mary Costello Sandra Skates yep we still do
Wendy Bruce Spuds in jackets on the creek or riverbed. No tinfoil & the rocks used to explode
Heather Newby i remember the rocks exploding.
Van Zollweg Beautiful...memories!
Nikki Tamatea The Coast is a great place.
Sue Scott Chips in chip pan, hot fat on a fire on the beach. Reused the fat so many times . . Never died or got badly burnt... Roz
Edwin Lord Are these 2 brothers still around remember those great days on the beach
Sue Baigent School holidays mum used to pack us of to the river with pre cooked sausages, spuds wrapped in foil, a Golden Syrup tin with a wire handle to boil water and a handful of tea leaves, great fun 55 years ago, all done on a fire
Sue Scott Roz burnt the spuds a few times though. Just kept the fat in the shed in the chip pan.. lucky kids weren't we
Clare Pierson No foil. Lots of charcoal!
Brian Kelly Out the 10 mile mussels on a bit of tin over a fire. Good times.
Gavin Davy Mussels in a kerosene tin.
Ken Winchester They are my cousins...... Where are they now?? Cheers Robyn Winchester nee Cochrane
Anne Honey Guy fox on cobden beach big bonfires built by us and our dads potatoes cooked in the fire when it burned down. Did it ever rain. Lovely nights all the kids together.
Keith Wilson Used to throw potatoes onto the embers after swimming.
Kevin Bell Used to take the old copper from home to cook the mussels and always a stop on the way home for the adults to have refreshments and the children to have a play.Wonderful times.
Lorraine O'Donoghue Kids today have no idea of the fun they are missing.
Barb Rodway Same here. Burnt black spuds, tasty as or were we just hungry.Sheryl Elizabeth Paki Relations of your Colleen Cochrane
Tess Cochrane Gavin Liz Cochrane
Lois Walton Loved it, going home stinking of smoke,
Up your nose, in your eyes and hair.
Used to cook the mussels in sea water.
Heather Newby i used to burn my fingers sometimes
Heather Newby and no adults supervised us either.
Lynette Clunie I remember bonfires on Cobden beach when we were little in the 60’s
Suzanne Buckley Lynette Clunie the Cochrane boys lived opposite us in Firth St and we used to all play together.
Marilyn Podmore Wow, can't believe there is a picture of the boys. I remember them being across the road too Suzanne Buckley
Marilyn Podmore Im sure one of those boys saved me from a rip when we were a little older, do you remember that Suzanne Buckley
Suzanne Buckley Marilyn Podmore yes and me, the most terrifying moment of my life getting swept out to sea on the tyres and the boys saved us. I still remember it
Lynette Clunie Suzanne Buckley I do remember the name now you mention it
Rowena Dunn Sophie Allen cooks damper on the beach when she takes people on her Golden Sands horse and wagon tours near Barrytown.
Heather Newby its so yummy..
Gavin Liz Cochrane Great memories thanks David for your faith in my cooking.
Marilyn Podmore Gavin Liz Cochrane, just wondering if you remember the Payn kids who lived across the road in those days?
Annette Martin This was done at Bruce bay with mick tekoite and nan jack mahuika carrie terry my son was a toddler as family grew Gary and leeanne memories good god feel old hugs
Anne Honey No Kathryn Cox we never forgot the butter went home covered in grease.
Kathryn Cox Anne Honey yum
Noelene Longley Great fun when we were kidsSandra Geddes Yip
Sheryl Iraia We didn't use foil for the spuds black outside fluffy hot inside with butter. Black faces when finished.
Lynnette Walford Yes burnt spuds but yummy,,mussels cooked in an old 44 gallon drum ,or that was the fireplace ,doesn't get much better than that on the beach at Mokihinui..
Cheryl Johnston Mussels cooked on a piece of corrugated iron & spuds burnt in tinfoil on the fire...
Peter McCutcheon Cheryl Johnston yep used to do that every weekend in kaikoura
Loretta Te Paa mussels cooked on corrugated iron at beach plus burnt spuds a real treat for us
Marlene Jackson Perry Ahahhh--- memories of burnt BLACK spuds thrown in the embers on the bank around Nelson Quay Cobden.David Bradford Marlene Jackson Perry same same on COBDEN beach the blacker the
Better
Joan Duncan Yes our family did dad and co would light a bonfire get mussels in a containor then in went the spuds hoki beach loved those days xx
Shona Ratana Guy Falks was when we cooked spuds in our home built outside fire, lovely too. We usually had a street fire too. They were the days?
Lorraine O'Donoghue Shona Ratana it was spectacular to go down the Cobden Tiphead and look along the Cobden beach at all the Guy Fawkes bonfires all all along to Pt Elizabeth track.
Linda Howard That was the life.
Bob Laing We cooked mussels on the beach at Tauranga Bay and at the Serpentine reef by putting a sheet corrugated iron on a bonfire with a single layer of mussels on the top. When they opened, delicimo
Mussels dunked in vinegar, to die forSidney Wihongi Yummy.
James Newby The exploding rocks were pieces of limestone
Margaret Simpson Guy Fawkes bonfires on Cobden beach, while the potatoes cooked in the embers we lit our sparklers, magical!
Lynette Clunie Margaret Simpson that is one of my favourite memories of Cobden beach
Kath Gordon Takes ya back hooves xx
Beverley Inwood We still do the mussels sometimes . But not as many
Wendy Dense Oh....those bonfire nights on Karoro beach Wendy Dense
Wendy Dense Oh....those bonfire nights on Karoro beachHeather Newby i remember the bonfire nights
Colleen Cochrane Yes David in Nelson and Gavin in Auckland
Wendy Cross Colleen Cochrane Remember the day when you got the big burn on your leg,I think we were down at the third shingles.
Colleen Cochrane Yes I do remember it went septic good memory Wendy
Colleen Cochrane HAVE YOU GOT THE PHOTO OF YOU AND I IN THE Bluebird Marching team I think your dad tKaye Mckay Any food we could get was wrapped in tin foil and put in fire
Lynnie Alexander such a good story to go with the photo ...Robin Peterson Yum. No mussels for us but loved the spuds.
Margaret McBride they were good days back then.
Sandra Mctaggart yum
Carole Williams Yes did this all the time at Cameron’s beach that was our playground. I remember swimming in the river when it was in flood and nearly drowning playing on logs and annoying the whitebaiters when they were dragnetting those were happy days and fantastic…See More
Craig Norman we would have never dreamed of having a parent anywhere near us. Today " Cool Dad" is always there to supervise. ( mind you my mother never thought I would live to see my 14th birthday. And looking back at some of the situations and things we did, she may have had a point)
Carole Williams Craig Norman yes same with me a disability all my life never stopped me having a great life up until 4 years ago when a tumour found in my brain 3 operations later no more trips back too the coast but I’ve got great memories of my childhood and my trips back there
Craig Norman Carole Williams Only been to the coast once. My greatgrandfather and great uncles were gold miners at Ross. My gandmother was born at Ross and when I was a little boy she would tell us about growing up on the goldfoelds with the Chinese mjners and buying Cocaine from the Nuns at the monetry for tooth ache, amongst other things.
Carole Williams Love it a book needs too be written with memories of growing up on the Coast
Craig Norman Carole Williams Grandma said that when they sold thier claim there was a scrubby area at the back that they never dug as it didn't look like it was any good. About 3 months later the giant nugget "the Honerable Roddy" was discovered. And guess where they found it?
Linda King Oh gosh yes what a wonderful childhood we had.
Patricia Salter We just threw the potato into the fire,then peel the burnt off it,was so nice.
Glenys Elizabeth Martin See u corrected the spelling colleen we used to do that as well in the days when families had fun as families great memories xx
Leisa Gray Some families and kids
still do this
ManageAlison Syder thats bringing back memories
Colleen Cochrane Yes you have to get it right don't you Glenys
Anne Honey Colleen was the Glenys Glenys Elizabeth Martin who went to Cobden school in the 50s.She was there with us so she will know it's right.
Angie Quinn First and last time I did was this at 17 mile and I found out I had a food intolerance to mussels!
Wendy Cane I was cooking stuff with my little pan on an open fire on the Cobden beach from the age of 5yrs. I had the best teacher to teach me how to do it all properly of course, my dad (Graeme McIntosh) hell our kids lived over there with frying pans full of fat and cooking chips then some one no names would set beach on fire burnt for days
Christine Stewart We did this when we were Girl Guides to get our badge, so much fun!!
James Newby There was a local pyromaniac in Blaketown who used to dye his hair bright colours and would sneak in and out of the lupins lighting little fires in the piles of drift wood all along the beach Sue Scott James Newby one year on the night if the 4th November someone lit all the bonfires
Lorraine O'Donoghue James Newby and did everyone know who it was? Approx what years would that be?
Jessie Guy
Love it and look at the deep concentration of job in hand
Bob Laing
We used to cook mussels on a part sheet of corrugated iron on a fire on the beach
Lorraine O'Donoghue
Those were the days! Shove potatoes in the ashes and toast marshmallows on sticks.
Phil Millar
Just a pity that the children of today could take part in doing this,it's a good grounding for them and sets them up for the future !
Catherine Moffitt Rowlands
We didn’t need to wrap the potatoes in tin foil, we also cooked crawlies in a old pot
Annie Mcbrydie
Share
Vicki Breeze
Yes we did the same Doyle st kids.great place to grow up.we left in the morning had to be home by dark no watches those days.
Margaret Chamberlain
Wonderful memories
Yvonne John Mckenzie
And it was so much fun
Jo E Nicol
Yep same down the 7 mile, not to mention swimming trying to avoid dangerous rips!
Karyn Woolhouse
Gavin Liz Cochrane
Moi Mclaughlin
My brother and I used to make billytea can still taste it lovely and smokey
Reg Allan
Today's kids don't know what real fun was they're all smothered in cotten wool
Gavin Menzies
Yep, cooked mussels on the corrugated iron at 14 mile beach many a time...when kids were real kids!
Dave Bj Henderson
No phone, no money, no water. Yep mussels from the top.
Dianne Johnson
The good old days.
Robyn A Rusholme
Hello David Cochran x
Jean Wilson
went to school with David
Thelma Coutts
Tasted better too.
Glenda MacDonald
Yes I remember those days. We spent a lot of time on the blaketown beach plus the lagoon on the mud flats when the tide was out
Heather Newby
Glenda MacDonald i loved the mudflats in the lagoon!!!
Wayne Leckie
Good times!!
Lois Iacoppi
We used an old car running board plate as our bar b cue
Mary Morgan
Little buggars
Bronwen Skates
mussels on tin and eaten with our hands so darn nice
Debra Kokshoorn
Cobden boys
Lois Iacoppi
Remember catching crawlies in the mine damn boiling them in a Billy and eating them?
Sheryl Iraia
Oh yes. only 12 Mile Beach.
Lynn Marley
Corrugated iron on fire with mussels at Jackson Bay
Joycelyn Hiha
oh Lord. those were the days. pity the kids now days who will never know the freedom we had
Warren Bennitt
Warren Bennitt
Michele Thomson
Love it
Stuart McMillan
Yes boys injoying them selfs
Karen Da Via
And didn't we love every minute of it!!
Peter McCutcheon
Karen Da Via did the same in kaikoura except ours was a sheet of corregated iron bon fire and sea food
Karen Da Via
Peter McCutcheon good times Pete. It's a pity our kids can't enjoy life the way we used to.
Peter McCutcheon
Karen Da Via yep. To much technology around now. Country kids are a bit more lucky
Karen Da Via
Too many rules & regulations that stop kids doing half of what we used to be allowed to do. It's such a shame
Peter McCutcheon
Karen Da Via to be fair. Most of them couldn't do what we did to entertain ourselves. They rely to much on mod cons.
Paul Mcewen
And today kids don’t have the freedoms that children enjoyed in the 60,s and 70,s thanks to the P.C. F..k wits in parliament
Jill Thwaites
You can’t light a fire on a beach these days
Elaine Bolitho
The days when boys could be boys!
Miles Reay
I had a barbecue on Blaketown Beach for my 21st.
Craig Norman
where ls "Cool dad" to supervise. ?
Jude Nicoll
Craig Norman taking the photo?
Martin Griffin
That’s how we’re learnt to do stuff!
Lynette Chisholm
Cobden kids Heather not Blaketown.
Gaye Ruru
I taught at Cobden School 1980-1984. Having come from Tauranga I remember the ‘Barber’ so well.
Colleen Cochrane
My brotherinlaws
Gary Rauhihi
those spuds burnt your fingers when they came out but tasted so good.
Robyn Mainey
Gary Rauhihi Good times!!
Mike Waghorne
Dampers I remember. In the family we stayed with when we arrived from the UK the mother was Go to guides leader and she showed us how to make them.
Christine Stewart
I remember camping on the beach and baking potatoes to get a brownie badge, such fun! God, we were tough
Ron Adams
Those were the days
Pauline Te Rakau
Hokitika beach with Chrisse Algar and Joy Staines, ... the best times You can't do anything these days PC world
James Newby
Debra Kokshoorn before we got our own surfboards we used to swim over the river from near the Blaketown rugby club to go surfing in Cobden,with up to 4 of us sharing just the one old Malibu surfboard of Chook Richardsons ,spend the afternoon there eating blackberry’s when we were hungry and paddle/swim back in the afternoon,imagine doing that today people would be horrified,
Debra Kokshoorn
Trevor Keith Scott
Same on PAROA Beach behind Thompson's Store, 60's.
Margaret Standen
We used to catch crawlies and cook them up on the tailings around Ikamatua. Don’t remember getting burnt thou. Lots of blackberries and mushrooms in season.
Keith Wilson
Blaketown lagoon and sleds made from corrugated iron to slide down the shingle mounds from the dredging.
Potatoes cooked on open fires and cooled down in the sea.
Home made body boards.
Keith Wilson loved swimming in the lagoon,, remember the island in the middle of the lagoon?Marion Maxwell
Swimming alone in the sea.. camping over night with your brother on the beach and the camp fire.. 7 and 8 years old.. we were all safe back then
Marion Maxwell because we played in groups.. and looked out for each other
Marion Maxwell
Heather Newby yes.. there were always a lot of kids round .. I miss those days. Poor kids of this generation would really love the freedom and fun we had..
James Newby
Marion Maxwell but would they know what to do with it?
Marion Maxwell
James Newby no, unfortunately technology , control and society have taken over...
I was very lucky, my Dad.. taught me all I needed to know to survive.
George Gardner
Did the same on the Cobden Beach almost a decade before you Heather. Priceless memories!
Ian Mehrtens
Those were the days, no health and safty BULL
Gavin Aldridge
Did the same on the blaketown beach, we had a lot of fun.
Nicki Killner
OMG the utter parental neglect of kids that age playing with matchsticks and fire. How did you not burn the place down.
Sandy Brown
No adults hovering within earshot to correct our every move..
Tony Simpson
They really were "the good old days". Pity they will never return....
Dennis Reid
Nothing is impossible Tony, where there's a will there's a way. You can do it.
Wayne Leckie
Well that brings back memories on the best beach on the coast
Wayne Rogers
Just such Special days,with a mate, Billy tea great
Gavin Liz Cochrane
Great times loved all the fire works jumping jacks and something we nailed on the fence. No sparklers for us boys.
Rob Absalom
Gavin Liz Cochrane the spinning wheel. They were definitely good times.
Kevin Oregan
Proper childhoods. How lucky we were
Kerry Keating
Sad to see the beach now. The stones get washed over the bar and washed onto the beach. Result,,,,,, stony beach.
Rob Absalom
Kerry Keating it was always a stones beach. Every now and then a bit of sand would show through.
Tania Tones Lawrence
Bonfires on the beach Sausages, spuds and if we were lucky, marshmallows
Peter MacRae
Nice photo Gav
Maree Nolan
Mum used to take us to the beach in Cobden to get some arty wood and stones then we would look for taddys in the pond absolutely the best time of my life ...
Janet Chappell
Yes I remember doing that down the mouth of the waimang river friends and I would head
Amber Long
I was at the Cobden beach, Point Elizabeth side at Easter and was horrified at the amount of rubbish dumped there. Used nappies and general rubbish so it was obviously people rather than industrial.
Pauline Walsh
Thank you for sharing this!
Pauline Walsh
Yes. Wayne was a great beach I used to swim here all the time u couldn't swim there now I
Pauline Schafer
We lived in Brunner and sometimes Mum would give us a big used tinned fruit tin and some fat and a spud and we’d cook chips over a fire in the cave. We had lots of fun playing in the bush, trying to find crawlers in the creek too, or collecting tadpoles in the pond. And watching them develop into frogs in a jar.
Elaine Barrow
Awesome‼️
Lynette Clunie
I remember the bonfires on Cobden beach, Suzanne Buckley, Marilyn Podmore
Dianne Johnson
Yes the Cobden bonfires were so much fun, sausages on sticks and potatoes chucked in the fire.
Beverley Leopold
Burnt spuds on the beach , fond memories of those days. They looked pretty awful but we loved them.
Melanie Galbraith
Spent years on cobden and blaketown Beach, made heaps of huts, picked blackberries, swimming bonfires. Walking dogs ect.
Heather Newby
Melanie Galbraith same
Kevin Bannan
we spent many hours on Cobden Beach great times
Colleen Todd
Yep me too
Barry Ward
Yes remember building fires on Blaketown beach was always bit of rivalry to see who could build the biggest
David Rennie
Living 101!
Sandra Skates It's ashame we can't cook on the beach now
Mary Costello Sandra Skates yep we still do
Wendy Bruce Spuds in jackets on the creek or riverbed. No tinfoil & the rocks used to explode
Heather Newby i remember the rocks exploding.
Van Zollweg Beautiful...memories!
Nikki Tamatea The Coast is a great place.
Sue Scott Chips in chip pan, hot fat on a fire on the beach. Reused the fat so many times . . Never died or got badly burnt... Roz
Edwin Lord Are these 2 brothers still around remember those great days on the beach
Sue Baigent School holidays mum used to pack us of to the river with pre cooked sausages, spuds wrapped in foil, a Golden Syrup tin with a wire handle to boil water and a handful of tea leaves, great fun 55 years ago, all done on a fire
Sue Scott Roz burnt the spuds a few times though. Just kept the fat in the shed in the chip pan.. lucky kids weren't we
Clare Pierson No foil. Lots of charcoal!
Brian Kelly Out the 10 mile mussels on a bit of tin over a fire. Good times.
Gavin Davy Mussels in a kerosene tin.
Ken Winchester They are my cousins...... Where are they now?? Cheers Robyn Winchester nee Cochrane
Anne Honey Guy fox on cobden beach big bonfires built by us and our dads potatoes cooked in the fire when it burned down. Did it ever rain. Lovely nights all the kids together.
Keith Wilson Used to throw potatoes onto the embers after swimming.
Kevin Bell Used to take the old copper from home to cook the mussels and always a stop on the way home for the adults to have refreshments and the children to have a play.Wonderful times.
Lorraine O'Donoghue Kids today have no idea of the fun they are missing.
Barb Rodway Same here. Burnt black spuds, tasty as or were we just hungry.Sheryl Elizabeth Paki Relations of your Colleen Cochrane
Tess Cochrane Gavin Liz Cochrane
Lois Walton Loved it, going home stinking of smoke,
Up your nose, in your eyes and hair.
Used to cook the mussels in sea water.
Heather Newby i used to burn my fingers sometimes
Heather Newby and no adults supervised us either.
Lynette Clunie I remember bonfires on Cobden beach when we were little in the 60’s
Suzanne Buckley Lynette Clunie the Cochrane boys lived opposite us in Firth St and we used to all play together.
Marilyn Podmore Wow, can't believe there is a picture of the boys. I remember them being across the road too Suzanne Buckley
Marilyn Podmore Im sure one of those boys saved me from a rip when we were a little older, do you remember that Suzanne Buckley
Suzanne Buckley Marilyn Podmore yes and me, the most terrifying moment of my life getting swept out to sea on the tyres and the boys saved us. I still remember it
Lynette Clunie Suzanne Buckley I do remember the name now you mention it
Rowena Dunn Sophie Allen cooks damper on the beach when she takes people on her Golden Sands horse and wagon tours near Barrytown.
Heather Newby its so yummy..
Gavin Liz Cochrane Great memories thanks David for your faith in my cooking.
Marilyn Podmore Gavin Liz Cochrane, just wondering if you remember the Payn kids who lived across the road in those days?
Annette Martin This was done at Bruce bay with mick tekoite and nan jack mahuika carrie terry my son was a toddler as family grew Gary and leeanne memories good god feel old hugs
Anne Honey No Kathryn Cox we never forgot the butter went home covered in grease.
Kathryn Cox Anne Honey yum
Noelene Longley Great fun when we were kidsSandra Geddes Yip
Sheryl Iraia We didn't use foil for the spuds black outside fluffy hot inside with butter. Black faces when finished.
Lynnette Walford Yes burnt spuds but yummy,,mussels cooked in an old 44 gallon drum ,or that was the fireplace ,doesn't get much better than that on the beach at Mokihinui..
Cheryl Johnston Mussels cooked on a piece of corrugated iron & spuds burnt in tinfoil on the fire...
Peter McCutcheon Cheryl Johnston yep used to do that every weekend in kaikoura
Loretta Te Paa mussels cooked on corrugated iron at beach plus burnt spuds a real treat for us
Marlene Jackson Perry Ahahhh--- memories of burnt BLACK spuds thrown in the embers on the bank around Nelson Quay Cobden.David Bradford Marlene Jackson Perry same same on COBDEN beach the blacker the
Better
Joan Duncan Yes our family did dad and co would light a bonfire get mussels in a containor then in went the spuds hoki beach loved those days xx
Shona Ratana Guy Falks was when we cooked spuds in our home built outside fire, lovely too. We usually had a street fire too. They were the days?
Lorraine O'Donoghue Shona Ratana it was spectacular to go down the Cobden Tiphead and look along the Cobden beach at all the Guy Fawkes bonfires all all along to Pt Elizabeth track.
Linda Howard That was the life.
Bob Laing We cooked mussels on the beach at Tauranga Bay and at the Serpentine reef by putting a sheet corrugated iron on a bonfire with a single layer of mussels on the top. When they opened, delicimo
Mussels dunked in vinegar, to die forSidney Wihongi Yummy.
James Newby The exploding rocks were pieces of limestone
Margaret Simpson Guy Fawkes bonfires on Cobden beach, while the potatoes cooked in the embers we lit our sparklers, magical!
Lynette Clunie Margaret Simpson that is one of my favourite memories of Cobden beach
Kath Gordon Takes ya back hooves xx
Beverley Inwood We still do the mussels sometimes . But not as many
Wendy Dense Oh....those bonfire nights on Karoro beach Wendy Dense
Wendy Dense Oh....those bonfire nights on Karoro beachHeather Newby i remember the bonfire nights
Colleen Cochrane Yes David in Nelson and Gavin in Auckland
Wendy Cross Colleen Cochrane Remember the day when you got the big burn on your leg,I think we were down at the third shingles.
Colleen Cochrane Yes I do remember it went septic good memory Wendy
Colleen Cochrane HAVE YOU GOT THE PHOTO OF YOU AND I IN THE Bluebird Marching team I think your dad tKaye Mckay Any food we could get was wrapped in tin foil and put in fire
Lynnie Alexander such a good story to go with the photo ...Robin Peterson Yum. No mussels for us but loved the spuds.
Margaret McBride they were good days back then.
Sandra Mctaggart yum
Carole Williams Yes did this all the time at Cameron’s beach that was our playground. I remember swimming in the river when it was in flood and nearly drowning playing on logs and annoying the whitebaiters when they were dragnetting those were happy days and fantastic…See More
Craig Norman we would have never dreamed of having a parent anywhere near us. Today " Cool Dad" is always there to supervise. ( mind you my mother never thought I would live to see my 14th birthday. And looking back at some of the situations and things we did, she may have had a point)
Carole Williams Craig Norman yes same with me a disability all my life never stopped me having a great life up until 4 years ago when a tumour found in my brain 3 operations later no more trips back too the coast but I’ve got great memories of my childhood and my trips back there
Craig Norman Carole Williams Only been to the coast once. My greatgrandfather and great uncles were gold miners at Ross. My gandmother was born at Ross and when I was a little boy she would tell us about growing up on the goldfoelds with the Chinese mjners and buying Cocaine from the Nuns at the monetry for tooth ache, amongst other things.
Carole Williams Love it a book needs too be written with memories of growing up on the Coast
Craig Norman Carole Williams Grandma said that when they sold thier claim there was a scrubby area at the back that they never dug as it didn't look like it was any good. About 3 months later the giant nugget "the Honerable Roddy" was discovered. And guess where they found it?
Linda King Oh gosh yes what a wonderful childhood we had.
Patricia Salter We just threw the potato into the fire,then peel the burnt off it,was so nice.
Glenys Elizabeth Martin See u corrected the spelling colleen we used to do that as well in the days when families had fun as families great memories xx
Leisa Gray Some families and kids
still do this
ManageAlison Syder thats bringing back memories
Colleen Cochrane Yes you have to get it right don't you Glenys
Anne Honey Colleen was the Glenys Glenys Elizabeth Martin who went to Cobden school in the 50s.She was there with us so she will know it's right.
Angie Quinn First and last time I did was this at 17 mile and I found out I had a food intolerance to mussels!
Wendy Cane I was cooking stuff with my little pan on an open fire on the Cobden beach from the age of 5yrs. I had the best teacher to teach me how to do it all properly of course, my dad (Graeme McIntosh) hell our kids lived over there with frying pans full of fat and cooking chips then some one no names would set beach on fire burnt for days
Christine Stewart We did this when we were Girl Guides to get our badge, so much fun!!
James Newby There was a local pyromaniac in Blaketown who used to dye his hair bright colours and would sneak in and out of the lupins lighting little fires in the piles of drift wood all along the beach Sue Scott James Newby one year on the night if the 4th November someone lit all the bonfires
Lorraine O'Donoghue James Newby and did everyone know who it was? Approx what years would that be?
Jessie Guy
Love it and look at the deep concentration of job in hand
Bob Laing
We used to cook mussels on a part sheet of corrugated iron on a fire on the beach
Lorraine O'Donoghue
Those were the days! Shove potatoes in the ashes and toast marshmallows on sticks.
Phil Millar
Just a pity that the children of today could take part in doing this,it's a good grounding for them and sets them up for the future !
Catherine Moffitt Rowlands
We didn’t need to wrap the potatoes in tin foil, we also cooked crawlies in a old pot
Annie Mcbrydie
Share
Vicki Breeze
Yes we did the same Doyle st kids.great place to grow up.we left in the morning had to be home by dark no watches those days.
Margaret Chamberlain
Wonderful memories
Yvonne John Mckenzie
And it was so much fun
Jo E Nicol
Yep same down the 7 mile, not to mention swimming trying to avoid dangerous rips!
Karyn Woolhouse
Gavin Liz Cochrane
Moi Mclaughlin
My brother and I used to make billytea can still taste it lovely and smokey
Reg Allan
Today's kids don't know what real fun was they're all smothered in cotten wool
Gavin Menzies
Yep, cooked mussels on the corrugated iron at 14 mile beach many a time...when kids were real kids!
Dave Bj Henderson
No phone, no money, no water. Yep mussels from the top.
Dianne Johnson
The good old days.
Robyn A Rusholme
Hello David Cochran x
Jean Wilson
went to school with David
Thelma Coutts
Tasted better too.
Glenda MacDonald
Yes I remember those days. We spent a lot of time on the blaketown beach plus the lagoon on the mud flats when the tide was out
Heather Newby
Glenda MacDonald i loved the mudflats in the lagoon!!!
Wayne Leckie
Good times!!
Lois Iacoppi
We used an old car running board plate as our bar b cue
Mary Morgan
Little buggars
Bronwen Skates
mussels on tin and eaten with our hands so darn nice
Debra Kokshoorn
Cobden boys
Lois Iacoppi
Remember catching crawlies in the mine damn boiling them in a Billy and eating them?
Sheryl Iraia
Oh yes. only 12 Mile Beach.
Lynn Marley
Corrugated iron on fire with mussels at Jackson Bay
Joycelyn Hiha
oh Lord. those were the days. pity the kids now days who will never know the freedom we had
Warren Bennitt
Warren Bennitt
Michele Thomson
Love it
Stuart McMillan
Yes boys injoying them selfs
Karen Da Via
And didn't we love every minute of it!!
Peter McCutcheon
Karen Da Via did the same in kaikoura except ours was a sheet of corregated iron bon fire and sea food
Karen Da Via
Peter McCutcheon good times Pete. It's a pity our kids can't enjoy life the way we used to.
Peter McCutcheon
Karen Da Via yep. To much technology around now. Country kids are a bit more lucky
Karen Da Via
Too many rules & regulations that stop kids doing half of what we used to be allowed to do. It's such a shame
Peter McCutcheon
Karen Da Via to be fair. Most of them couldn't do what we did to entertain ourselves. They rely to much on mod cons.
Paul Mcewen
And today kids don’t have the freedoms that children enjoyed in the 60,s and 70,s thanks to the P.C. F..k wits in parliament
Jill Thwaites
You can’t light a fire on a beach these days
Elaine Bolitho
The days when boys could be boys!
Miles Reay
I had a barbecue on Blaketown Beach for my 21st.
Craig Norman
where ls "Cool dad" to supervise. ?
Jude Nicoll
Craig Norman taking the photo?
Martin Griffin
That’s how we’re learnt to do stuff!
Lynette Chisholm
Cobden kids Heather not Blaketown.
Gaye Ruru
I taught at Cobden School 1980-1984. Having come from Tauranga I remember the ‘Barber’ so well.
Colleen Cochrane
My brotherinlaws
Gary Rauhihi
those spuds burnt your fingers when they came out but tasted so good.
Robyn Mainey
Gary Rauhihi Good times!!
Mike Waghorne
Dampers I remember. In the family we stayed with when we arrived from the UK the mother was Go to guides leader and she showed us how to make them.
Christine Stewart
I remember camping on the beach and baking potatoes to get a brownie badge, such fun! God, we were tough
Ron Adams
Those were the days
Pauline Te Rakau
Hokitika beach with Chrisse Algar and Joy Staines, ... the best times You can't do anything these days PC world
James Newby
Debra Kokshoorn before we got our own surfboards we used to swim over the river from near the Blaketown rugby club to go surfing in Cobden,with up to 4 of us sharing just the one old Malibu surfboard of Chook Richardsons ,spend the afternoon there eating blackberry’s when we were hungry and paddle/swim back in the afternoon,imagine doing that today people would be horrified,
Debra Kokshoorn
Trevor Keith Scott
Same on PAROA Beach behind Thompson's Store, 60's.
Margaret Standen
We used to catch crawlies and cook them up on the tailings around Ikamatua. Don’t remember getting burnt thou. Lots of blackberries and mushrooms in season.
Keith Wilson
Blaketown lagoon and sleds made from corrugated iron to slide down the shingle mounds from the dredging.
Potatoes cooked on open fires and cooled down in the sea.
Home made body boards.
Keith Wilson loved swimming in the lagoon,, remember the island in the middle of the lagoon?Marion Maxwell
Swimming alone in the sea.. camping over night with your brother on the beach and the camp fire.. 7 and 8 years old.. we were all safe back then
Marion Maxwell because we played in groups.. and looked out for each other
Marion Maxwell
Heather Newby yes.. there were always a lot of kids round .. I miss those days. Poor kids of this generation would really love the freedom and fun we had..
James Newby
Marion Maxwell but would they know what to do with it?
Marion Maxwell
James Newby no, unfortunately technology , control and society have taken over...
I was very lucky, my Dad.. taught me all I needed to know to survive.
George Gardner
Did the same on the Cobden Beach almost a decade before you Heather. Priceless memories!
Ian Mehrtens
Those were the days, no health and safty BULL
Gavin Aldridge
Did the same on the blaketown beach, we had a lot of fun.
Nicki Killner
OMG the utter parental neglect of kids that age playing with matchsticks and fire. How did you not burn the place down.
Sandy Brown
No adults hovering within earshot to correct our every move..
Tony Simpson
They really were "the good old days". Pity they will never return....
Dennis Reid
Nothing is impossible Tony, where there's a will there's a way. You can do it.
Wayne Leckie
Well that brings back memories on the best beach on the coast
Wayne Rogers
Just such Special days,with a mate, Billy tea great
Gavin Liz Cochrane
Great times loved all the fire works jumping jacks and something we nailed on the fence. No sparklers for us boys.
Rob Absalom
Gavin Liz Cochrane the spinning wheel. They were definitely good times.
Kevin Oregan
Proper childhoods. How lucky we were
Kerry Keating
Sad to see the beach now. The stones get washed over the bar and washed onto the beach. Result,,,,,, stony beach.
Rob Absalom
Kerry Keating it was always a stones beach. Every now and then a bit of sand would show through.
Tania Tones Lawrence
Bonfires on the beach Sausages, spuds and if we were lucky, marshmallows
Peter MacRae
Nice photo Gav
Maree Nolan
Mum used to take us to the beach in Cobden to get some arty wood and stones then we would look for taddys in the pond absolutely the best time of my life ...
Janet Chappell
Yes I remember doing that down the mouth of the waimang river friends and I would head
Amber Long
I was at the Cobden beach, Point Elizabeth side at Easter and was horrified at the amount of rubbish dumped there. Used nappies and general rubbish so it was obviously people rather than industrial.
Pauline Walsh
Thank you for sharing this!
Pauline Walsh
Yes. Wayne was a great beach I used to swim here all the time u couldn't swim there now I
Pauline Schafer
We lived in Brunner and sometimes Mum would give us a big used tinned fruit tin and some fat and a spud and we’d cook chips over a fire in the cave. We had lots of fun playing in the bush, trying to find crawlers in the creek too, or collecting tadpoles in the pond. And watching them develop into frogs in a jar.
Elaine Barrow
Awesome‼️
Lynette Clunie
I remember the bonfires on Cobden beach, Suzanne Buckley, Marilyn Podmore
Dianne Johnson
Yes the Cobden bonfires were so much fun, sausages on sticks and potatoes chucked in the fire.
Beverley Leopold
Burnt spuds on the beach , fond memories of those days. They looked pretty awful but we loved them.
Melanie Galbraith
Spent years on cobden and blaketown Beach, made heaps of huts, picked blackberries, swimming bonfires. Walking dogs ect.
Heather Newby
Melanie Galbraith same
Kevin Bannan
we spent many hours on Cobden Beach great times
Colleen Todd
Yep me too
Barry Ward
Yes remember building fires on Blaketown beach was always bit of rivalry to see who could build the biggest
David Rennie
Living 101!
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West Coast New Zealand History (22nd May 2023). David and Gavin Cochran lighting a fire on Cobden beach.1960s.. In Website West Coast New Zealand History. Retrieved 29th Apr 2026 09:12, from https://westcoast.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/25597