Gisborne

We have driven over to the east coast of N island in search of a headstone for a distant relation if John's.

Alfred Foster died on the Somme in Septemebr 1916 and when visiting the cemetery in Caterpillar Valley a couple years ago we felt sad to see that although his name was in the book - always placed at the gateway to the cemetery - there wasn't a headstone for him. We have to assume his body wasn't identified.

The drive to Gisborne was beautiful, about 350 Kms, passing miles of stunning coastline and through beautiful hills on quiet roads. John had researched relevant information about the cemetery in Gisborne and we found Alfred's family grave quite easily. The headstone needed a clean, a pleasant chap nearby offered a brush after a few minutes cleaning the detail was easy to read. Next on the agenda was to look for where he lived, again an easy find and then onto the B&B. When looking out from the sitting room we could see a war memorial and later walked over to it and pleased to see his name on the wall.

Gisborne is the first city in the world to see the sun in the morning, is a big wine growing area, 'Chardonnay' and has a reputation for good food.