N.Z. Expeditionary Force
D Company 8th Reinforcements
Tauherenikau Military Camp
14.10.1915
Dear May,
We are just about settled down again after our holiday. The weather has been terribly hot & we are getting a proper scorching. All this week we have been parading in shirt sleeves with necks open, it is lovely & free but lets the sun in badly & our arms & necks are just scarlet with sun-burn & demand for Vaseline etc is somewhat abnormal. Of course they don’t work us too hard & twice they have knocked off early & taken us to the river for a splash & after sweating all day in the dust I can tell you it is just the thing. We had the duff for dinner today & it was lovely. The cook warmed it up for us & made us half a dipper of sauce. Needless to say we sat well out in the open & teased everyone who went past. We told most of them that the cook-shop was dishing them out to any one who liked to go for one. I haven’t cut the cake yet
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as most of the others brought cakes & we had several boxes given to us on the way up & I thought mine would keep alright for a week or so. The trip up was very good. The ride into R’dle was pretty hot with my overcoat on & the pockets full but I got in in heaps of time. Picked up Hargest at Mandeville & had a great joke at Otamita. He was doing a blow about a pair of sox he was to get from a girl there & as the train pulled in sure enough she was standing there at the station with the parcel. The train slacked down & she came forward & started to walk along with the carriage & yarn to him but it got a bit too fast for her to keep up with so she just dropped back & strolled along to where the train usually pulls up but it kept getting quicker & quicker & the girl began to look anxious & a disappointed expression was gradually coming over Hargest’s face & I had a sort of feeling that there was a joke brewing & sure enough the train pulled straight through without stopping & the last
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I saw of the tart she was standing on the platform with the sox in her hand & just about killing herself laughing. Needless to say I have told the joke around & I don’t know when he will here the end of it. Of course we spent the night at Bagrie’s & had all our cobbers there to a social & it was well into the morning before we got to bed. On the way up we saw all our friends at the various stations. All Uncle Franks were down at the station & I had 1/4 of an hour with them. The boat trip was slightly rougher than previous ones but I didn’t feel at all sick. In Well. we had a lovely time, 4 of us left about 10am in a motor car for a trip around Oriental, Lyall & Island Bays. It is a lovely spin. On the way back we stopped at the zoological gardens & had no difficulty in filling in time there until about 1.15. I had no idea they were so extensive. They have lions, bears, monkeys & all kinds of deer, goats, rabbits etc & all out in the open. Perhaps the prettiest part of it is the bird department. It would take pages
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to describe it all but I had no idea you could get such beautifully marked birds especially some of pheasants & pigeons, & the gorgeous colourings of some of them would astonish you. The fish too are well worth seeing they have them in concrete boxes in the side of a slope & one side is glass so you can see the fish quite plainly. Altogether it was a really well spent morning & if ever you are in Well. go to the zoo if you have to miss everything else. While in Well. we met several people from the Gore district who had been up seeing the 7th & the Trents off but there was no one you know. The transports were in the Harbour until Sunday morning & just started to move off as we came past them. One of the transports remained in Well., it is rumoured that she waited for 217 deserters from the Trents but I don’t know if that is right. Anyway at least two of our chaps were stopped by the Military Police in Well. & had to show their passes etc. so there may be something in the yarn.
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Well I have to stop now as we are to go on night operations for an hour or two at 7 o’clock. I posted a photo of our hut & platoon. I suppose it will arrive alright.
Love to all
Len
P.S. Scored 2 prs sox coming up & there was another pr (a birthday present) from Averil waiting here for me when I got back.
[Written on back of Page 5]
Tauherenikau Camp N.Z.
