All day I was singing “Postman Pat and his black and white
cat”. Tickets were bought by Sally, Olivia, Caitlin, Grandad, Norma and Alex
for the Eastern Bays scenic mail run…in a red bus too. Robin picked us up,
mail, groceries, newspapers in the back and off we went. The journey was
amazing, shear drops each side, down to the turquoise sea. We saw small
villages, earthquake damaged buildings that were closed. There are 140
mailboxes on Robin’s run, and no two were the same.
Robin spoke all the way around the route, we spoke about the
rural schools closing down. Le Bon’s school only had 4 children for the last
few years, the community are now looking to turn it into an outdoor education
centre. The bays are so remote, with long drives between mailboxes. Often
people had to drive to get to their mailboxes. Robin picks up the mail from the
box, as well as delivering mail.
I think Robin knew everyone on the trip, their all wanted a
quick chat. Some of the mailboxes are incredibly ornate. Mid-morning we had
morning tea of cheese and biscuits with gorgeous chutney made by Robin’s wife.
We had coffee and Christmas biscuits, on a bench, next to the beach…including a
table cloth.
We dropped groceries at the local grocery store and had an
ice cream. It’s the longest running shop in the whole of New Zealand, from the
1800’s. There was an ornate telephone box, a machine arcade gam, old TV, old
petrol pumps and post office. We walked on the beach at Le Bon, then back to
Akaroa, a little shaken and feeling like we were still moving on the mail run.
An amazingly quirky tour.
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