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What is your fondest memory of growing up on the West Coast?
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DescriptionWhat is your fondest memory of growing up on the West Coast?PhotographerPatrick DownsMap[1] ContributorHeather Newby
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Location (city or town)GreymouthEventWhat is your fondest memory of growing up on the West Coast?
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Date Created20th August 2020CommentsJune Williams Spending time at Lake Kaniere.
1950s and 60s.
Joy Cox And heaps of Pippis.. Loved digging in the mud for Pippis and taking them home to cook.. Delicious!!!
Wayne Leckie Swimming down the hockey bridge. Diving off the Cobden bridge swimming the Grey river white baiting. Member of the cycling club loved the road racing . An amazing place to grow up -till biking today and loving it
Danae Russell My favorite memory is of getting tadpoles from the Brunner Mine site and growing them into frogs. Also going Blackberry picking in Taylorville and mum making a pie or a crumble with them. I also loved going to Taylorville Primary School from 1988-1993.
Heather NewbyAuthor ohhh.. i loved getting tadpoles too.. wasnt that fun? and sooo many blackberries.
Wayne Nicholson Kaiata, Golf Links Rd, Kaiata Creek swimming hole, pennies on the tracks, especially when the steam train was coming. Highlight was the Friday afternoon shopping trip to town in the 100E Prefect.
Wayne Nicholson Oh, Nana's cooking , for sure !
Matt McNabb I didn't grow up there but we had regular holidays. One thing I remember was going to Nelson Creek where there was a place you could climb up quite high and jump down into the water . Also, walking from Dunollie to Rapahoe, being ready to jump off the rail bridge if a train came . And riding on the jigger
Heather NewbyAuthor Sue Scott were you amongst the kids that swam in the Blaketown lagoon?
Sue Scott Heather Newby yes and off the fisherman's wharf when they built that. I preferred the beach but if the tide was high the lagoon was a safer option
Margaret Wright Yes we spent most of the summer swimming over the lagoon High tide we had a love wee pool My mum sat on the stones knitting watching us kid low tide we used to swim over to the wharf infront of the old Harbour board which is now the old Westfleet building the water was so clear you could see the stones on the botoomk not like today you wouldn't swimm there
Geoff Hale Sitting out the back of Nana and Grandads house at 74 Turumaha St with our home made sling shots ( shanghais) shooting small stones at the railway roundhouse windows. There were hundreds of them to break.
Paul Agnes Smith Yer scared the shoit out of me one day as I was passing said windows...
Geoff Hale Grandad and I used to get the driftwood off the beach, then we would make them, and he would show me how to use them. What a great guy.
Donald Pearson Used to spend lots of time going eeling in the lagoon,behind the hospital.
Wayne Leckie Donald Pearson the biggest eels where at the sewer outlets under the wharf.
Donald Pearson Wayne Leckie I bet they were,but never ventured that far,stayed nearer home.
Bob Jamieson Making swinging vines from bush iawyer vines... lived in the bush.
Frank ODonnell We used to white bate in there back then too
Barbara Fitzsimmons Loved the Dump . loved to dress up
Clare Pierson How many children today have such healthy wonderful times just being children? I had many of the experiences listed but in and around Hokitika in the 1940s and 1950s. When I stayed with cousins in Bright Street Cobden we roller skated down that small "hill" by the Creek and I loved swimming at the 3rd shingle with little crabs, incoming tidal rushes and much fun!
Chippy McLean The bush, Punakaiki,whitebaiting ,and picking blackberries
Heather Newby Chippy McLean same.. what about the turf wars in the lupins on Saturday mornings? and the booby traps in the sand.. and the underground huts .. and playing in the big concrete pyramids at Blaketown tiphead.. and the boys riding across the pipes on their bikes.
Jill Smith I had a wonderful playground at my backdoor(literally). Living in Milton Road Rugby Park had huge fir trees around the perimeter and we had great huts in them. Also the end of the grounds (where Greymain school is now) had amazing bush where we played for hours in the tunnels that other kids made. Not to mention I broke my arm aged 9 falling out of one of the fir trees.
Donald Pearson Jill Smith Used to frequent the Bush too,fun and games,also climbed up Cottles hill many times.
Jill Smith Also spent many happy hours playing at the top of Arnott Heights (before any houses were there). There was a huge sand bank and greasy clay bank where we played all day.
Catherine Carey Meeting my Mum and Mrs Mehrtens at Hokitika wharf at lunchtime from school and watching them catch lots of whitebait
Sheryl Iraia Roaming MY BEACH from the 14Mile to the 10 Mile. Cooking in a pan on a beach fire with purloined eggs, spuds bread and onions. Playing dare on the two rocks that poked out into the sea. One bigger than the other, a small chanel between them. Who could stay the longest as big breakers came crashing in.
Marie Tern Musseling at 12 mile. Cooking them on the beach in an old copper. Eating them with buttered bread and watercress from across the road.
Heather Newby big thick slabs of white bread .. and last time Sam and I were down there.. I checked.. and the watercress is still there across the road.
Marie Tern Biking from Blaketown to Boddytown to collect tadpoles in jam jars
Heather Newby watching them sprout legs.
Sandra Arnott Yip and the one by hospital!Going up the bush for supplejack,riding horses around Aorangi reserve!
Marie Tern Building huts in the lupins and lighting fires at Blaketown beach.
Heather Newby I went down to the lupins in my pinny one Saturday morning after scrubbing the floor at home, and billy Leach tied me to a pole because I encroached on their territory.He let me go after I told him I would get Dad to ring the cops.I was about 10.
Heather Newby I remember Billy Leach and Bruce Dando riding their bikes across the pipes.When we saw them coming we used to have to stand down on the struts while they passed
Marie Tern Going to the dance competitions at the Columba hall in the August school holiday's.
Heather Newby Watching Paula McTaggart do the Highland fling and Ron and Peter McTaggart play Fleur Elise on the piano.
Heather NewbyGoing to the Cowboy Movies at St James every Saturday afternoon with a shilling for pocket money.
Marie Tern Biking to Grey High in torrential rain and getting wet through. The smell of wet.wool as we dried out
Heather Newby Marie Tern i dont remember anything about what raincoats we had..
Sonia Dando Going to the beach amazing we walked out back door through the paddock and there we were
Picking blackberries
Walking to the tip head …See More
Marlene Jackson Perry Building Billy carts with my btothers & racing them down the hill from Bright St to Neson Quay in Cobden.
Such an innocent & happy time.
Marie Tern Swimming at Blaketown beach between August and Easter. No wetsuits but defrosting with driftwood fires. No one called the fire brigade
Heather Newby bonfires on the beach
Marie Tern James Bond movies at the St James
Tony Kokshoorn Messenger Park.
Heather NewbyAuthor I loved the lagoons.. and I loved Blaketown School.
Marie Tern The Salvation Army band on a truck playing Christmas carols trailed by a flock of kids on bikes
Brent David Family picnics at Punakiki River. Ann-Maree Duncan Robert Mathewson
Marie Tern Making a Guy Fawkes out of old clothes stuffed with paper and taking it around on an old pram or go cart raising money for fireworks. Guy Fawkes bonfires at the beavj
Mike Waghorne There were also lots of baby eels.
Kaye Render Yes! We called them bootlaces
The veggie truck coming around,from which you could get sticks of sugar cane to chew on.
Marie Tern
James Newby and the fish truck
Graham Messenger
Picking mushrooms on the aerodrome.
Lindsay Forrest
Graham Messenger I remember that - Athol and I used to ride our bikes early in the morning up and down the grass looking for mushrooms!!
Vern Pattinson
Going up the Bush making huts and fishing in Dobson and the people
Naomi Riley
Swimming in the Inangahua River
Heather Buchanan
Swimming and picnicking at Rapahoe beach !
Jeannie Preddy
Swimming at the Sands in Dobson, blackberrying and Sunday night movies in the hall. Great days!
Kath Merv Moreton
Jeannie Preddy and swimming in the pool at the power station and the " rocks" at Dobson!!James Newby
Fresh stewed rhubarb and Gregg’s Seameal Custard
Noeline McCaughan
Mushrooming on the flats beside the Taramakau, whitebaiting down at the river mouth. Exploring the environment around the Kumara goldfields. Picking blackberries, tramping with my father through the bush on the old gold trails. Climbing my first mount… See More
Whitebaiting in the Taramakau, bon fires on the beach and the freedom to do pretty much anything we wanted to do.
Alan N Barb Cochrane
taken in Blaketown lagoon Pat ? Barbara ,Maureen &
Pauline Walsh
I rember those days well great pics
Whitebaiting
Fishing for herrings underneath the fishermans wharf
Fishing for cockabillies from the pipes in front of Turkey Bourke`s house using a bent pin on cotton.. with a bit of meat attached.
Brian Hope I think it was a Mr Kennedy who would set a baited line over night. Caught massive eels .
Gavin Davy Maybe right Geoffrey but I don't think it matters where it is, it's the sort of thing kids should be doing. For us it was the Punakaiki River, what great fun we had out there in the river, sea and the bush.Pauline Matene
Hahahahaha, dreams are free love
Karla Haussmann
I remember the lagoon when we shifted to blaketown
Glen Campbell
Yeah the sand surfing was fantastic
Deb Ramage Cousin Betty and I use to to throw our dolls, off with twine, they were swimming. Early 70's
Diana Mattingly Days at the baths, playing on Bunny Chunn's hill, bike rides, the beach, are some of the things I loved. The coast was a great place to grow up, great memories
Heather NewbyAuthor we spent a lot of time at the baths too
Marilyn Jones Remember it all so well, the freedom we had was unreal
Allison Riding Softball first off. Had great fun traipsing all over the bushland... used to hike up The Gun in the 80s to sneak a smoke (or a few, among other things). Great view at the time. Great place to grow up on The Coast.
Leslee Moody Lovely pic! Some of my favourite memories of growing up in Reefton is in the Summer. Long sunny days where we would spend hours lying on the hot concrete and swimming at the town pool and then head over to the milk bar for a lolly mix and a popsicle. Tubing from the Whirlpool down to the Town Bridge was the best. - It was so uncomplicated, free and fun!
Diana Mattingly I remember coming to Reefton way back in the day for a swimming tournament. The water was so cold, I think I probably did my fastest times ever in that pool, all I wanted to do was reach the finish and get out of the water. And I still didn't win a race, everyone else seemed to have the same idea as me :)
Karen Green Just life in Rapahoe as a kid awesome memories so many
1950s and 60s.
Joy Cox And heaps of Pippis.. Loved digging in the mud for Pippis and taking them home to cook.. Delicious!!!
Wayne Leckie Swimming down the hockey bridge. Diving off the Cobden bridge swimming the Grey river white baiting. Member of the cycling club loved the road racing . An amazing place to grow up -till biking today and loving it
Danae Russell My favorite memory is of getting tadpoles from the Brunner Mine site and growing them into frogs. Also going Blackberry picking in Taylorville and mum making a pie or a crumble with them. I also loved going to Taylorville Primary School from 1988-1993.
Heather NewbyAuthor ohhh.. i loved getting tadpoles too.. wasnt that fun? and sooo many blackberries.
Wayne Nicholson Kaiata, Golf Links Rd, Kaiata Creek swimming hole, pennies on the tracks, especially when the steam train was coming. Highlight was the Friday afternoon shopping trip to town in the 100E Prefect.
Wayne Nicholson Oh, Nana's cooking , for sure !
Matt McNabb I didn't grow up there but we had regular holidays. One thing I remember was going to Nelson Creek where there was a place you could climb up quite high and jump down into the water . Also, walking from Dunollie to Rapahoe, being ready to jump off the rail bridge if a train came . And riding on the jigger
Heather NewbyAuthor Sue Scott were you amongst the kids that swam in the Blaketown lagoon?
Sue Scott Heather Newby yes and off the fisherman's wharf when they built that. I preferred the beach but if the tide was high the lagoon was a safer option
Margaret Wright Yes we spent most of the summer swimming over the lagoon High tide we had a love wee pool My mum sat on the stones knitting watching us kid low tide we used to swim over to the wharf infront of the old Harbour board which is now the old Westfleet building the water was so clear you could see the stones on the botoomk not like today you wouldn't swimm there
Geoff Hale Sitting out the back of Nana and Grandads house at 74 Turumaha St with our home made sling shots ( shanghais) shooting small stones at the railway roundhouse windows. There were hundreds of them to break.
Paul Agnes Smith Yer scared the shoit out of me one day as I was passing said windows...
Geoff Hale Grandad and I used to get the driftwood off the beach, then we would make them, and he would show me how to use them. What a great guy.
Donald Pearson Used to spend lots of time going eeling in the lagoon,behind the hospital.
Wayne Leckie Donald Pearson the biggest eels where at the sewer outlets under the wharf.
Donald Pearson Wayne Leckie I bet they were,but never ventured that far,stayed nearer home.
Bob Jamieson Making swinging vines from bush iawyer vines... lived in the bush.
Frank ODonnell We used to white bate in there back then too
Barbara Fitzsimmons Loved the Dump . loved to dress up
Clare Pierson How many children today have such healthy wonderful times just being children? I had many of the experiences listed but in and around Hokitika in the 1940s and 1950s. When I stayed with cousins in Bright Street Cobden we roller skated down that small "hill" by the Creek and I loved swimming at the 3rd shingle with little crabs, incoming tidal rushes and much fun!
Chippy McLean The bush, Punakaiki,whitebaiting ,and picking blackberries
Heather Newby Chippy McLean same.. what about the turf wars in the lupins on Saturday mornings? and the booby traps in the sand.. and the underground huts .. and playing in the big concrete pyramids at Blaketown tiphead.. and the boys riding across the pipes on their bikes.
Jill Smith I had a wonderful playground at my backdoor(literally). Living in Milton Road Rugby Park had huge fir trees around the perimeter and we had great huts in them. Also the end of the grounds (where Greymain school is now) had amazing bush where we played for hours in the tunnels that other kids made. Not to mention I broke my arm aged 9 falling out of one of the fir trees.
Donald Pearson Jill Smith Used to frequent the Bush too,fun and games,also climbed up Cottles hill many times.
Jill Smith Also spent many happy hours playing at the top of Arnott Heights (before any houses were there). There was a huge sand bank and greasy clay bank where we played all day.
Catherine Carey Meeting my Mum and Mrs Mehrtens at Hokitika wharf at lunchtime from school and watching them catch lots of whitebait
Sheryl Iraia Roaming MY BEACH from the 14Mile to the 10 Mile. Cooking in a pan on a beach fire with purloined eggs, spuds bread and onions. Playing dare on the two rocks that poked out into the sea. One bigger than the other, a small chanel between them. Who could stay the longest as big breakers came crashing in.
Marie Tern Musseling at 12 mile. Cooking them on the beach in an old copper. Eating them with buttered bread and watercress from across the road.
Heather Newby big thick slabs of white bread .. and last time Sam and I were down there.. I checked.. and the watercress is still there across the road.
Marie Tern Biking from Blaketown to Boddytown to collect tadpoles in jam jars
Heather Newby watching them sprout legs.
Sandra Arnott Yip and the one by hospital!Going up the bush for supplejack,riding horses around Aorangi reserve!
Marie Tern Building huts in the lupins and lighting fires at Blaketown beach.
Heather Newby I went down to the lupins in my pinny one Saturday morning after scrubbing the floor at home, and billy Leach tied me to a pole because I encroached on their territory.He let me go after I told him I would get Dad to ring the cops.I was about 10.
Heather Newby I remember Billy Leach and Bruce Dando riding their bikes across the pipes.When we saw them coming we used to have to stand down on the struts while they passed
Marie Tern Going to the dance competitions at the Columba hall in the August school holiday's.
Heather Newby Watching Paula McTaggart do the Highland fling and Ron and Peter McTaggart play Fleur Elise on the piano.
Heather NewbyGoing to the Cowboy Movies at St James every Saturday afternoon with a shilling for pocket money.
Marie Tern Biking to Grey High in torrential rain and getting wet through. The smell of wet.wool as we dried out
Heather Newby Marie Tern i dont remember anything about what raincoats we had..
Sonia Dando Going to the beach amazing we walked out back door through the paddock and there we were
Picking blackberries
Walking to the tip head …See More
Marlene Jackson Perry Building Billy carts with my btothers & racing them down the hill from Bright St to Neson Quay in Cobden.
Such an innocent & happy time.
Marie Tern Swimming at Blaketown beach between August and Easter. No wetsuits but defrosting with driftwood fires. No one called the fire brigade
Heather Newby bonfires on the beach
Marie Tern James Bond movies at the St James
Tony Kokshoorn Messenger Park.
Heather NewbyAuthor I loved the lagoons.. and I loved Blaketown School.
Marie Tern The Salvation Army band on a truck playing Christmas carols trailed by a flock of kids on bikes
Brent David Family picnics at Punakiki River. Ann-Maree Duncan Robert Mathewson
Marie Tern Making a Guy Fawkes out of old clothes stuffed with paper and taking it around on an old pram or go cart raising money for fireworks. Guy Fawkes bonfires at the beavj
Mike Waghorne There were also lots of baby eels.
Kaye Render Yes! We called them bootlaces
The veggie truck coming around,from which you could get sticks of sugar cane to chew on.
Marie Tern
James Newby and the fish truck
Graham Messenger
Picking mushrooms on the aerodrome.
Lindsay Forrest
Graham Messenger I remember that - Athol and I used to ride our bikes early in the morning up and down the grass looking for mushrooms!!
Vern Pattinson
Going up the Bush making huts and fishing in Dobson and the people
Naomi Riley
Swimming in the Inangahua River
Heather Buchanan
Swimming and picnicking at Rapahoe beach !
Jeannie Preddy
Swimming at the Sands in Dobson, blackberrying and Sunday night movies in the hall. Great days!
Kath Merv Moreton
Jeannie Preddy and swimming in the pool at the power station and the " rocks" at Dobson!!James Newby
Fresh stewed rhubarb and Gregg’s Seameal Custard
Noeline McCaughan
Mushrooming on the flats beside the Taramakau, whitebaiting down at the river mouth. Exploring the environment around the Kumara goldfields. Picking blackberries, tramping with my father through the bush on the old gold trails. Climbing my first mount… See More
Whitebaiting in the Taramakau, bon fires on the beach and the freedom to do pretty much anything we wanted to do.
Alan N Barb Cochrane
taken in Blaketown lagoon Pat ? Barbara ,Maureen &
Pauline Walsh
I rember those days well great pics
Whitebaiting
Fishing for herrings underneath the fishermans wharf
Fishing for cockabillies from the pipes in front of Turkey Bourke`s house using a bent pin on cotton.. with a bit of meat attached.
Brian Hope I think it was a Mr Kennedy who would set a baited line over night. Caught massive eels .
Gavin Davy Maybe right Geoffrey but I don't think it matters where it is, it's the sort of thing kids should be doing. For us it was the Punakaiki River, what great fun we had out there in the river, sea and the bush.Pauline Matene
Hahahahaha, dreams are free love
Karla Haussmann
I remember the lagoon when we shifted to blaketown
Glen Campbell
Yeah the sand surfing was fantastic
Deb Ramage Cousin Betty and I use to to throw our dolls, off with twine, they were swimming. Early 70's
Diana Mattingly Days at the baths, playing on Bunny Chunn's hill, bike rides, the beach, are some of the things I loved. The coast was a great place to grow up, great memories
Heather NewbyAuthor we spent a lot of time at the baths too
Marilyn Jones Remember it all so well, the freedom we had was unreal
Allison Riding Softball first off. Had great fun traipsing all over the bushland... used to hike up The Gun in the 80s to sneak a smoke (or a few, among other things). Great view at the time. Great place to grow up on The Coast.
Leslee Moody Lovely pic! Some of my favourite memories of growing up in Reefton is in the Summer. Long sunny days where we would spend hours lying on the hot concrete and swimming at the town pool and then head over to the milk bar for a lolly mix and a popsicle. Tubing from the Whirlpool down to the Town Bridge was the best. - It was so uncomplicated, free and fun!
Diana Mattingly I remember coming to Reefton way back in the day for a swimming tournament. The water was so cold, I think I probably did my fastest times ever in that pool, all I wanted to do was reach the finish and get out of the water. And I still didn't win a race, everyone else seemed to have the same idea as me :)
Karen Green Just life in Rapahoe as a kid awesome memories so many
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West Coast New Zealand History (22nd Aug 2020). What is your fondest memory of growing up on the West Coast?. In Website West Coast New Zealand History. Retrieved 13th Apr 2026 22:03, from https://westcoast.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/28324