My Account
Marie Avenue in Red Beach, where Dorothy Morpeth lives, was named after her cousin. Almost all the streets there have special memories for this 86-year-old, who was first brought to Red Beach “as a babe in arms” and spent every holiday at the family cottage there. When Dorothy’s husband Graham retired, the couple moved permanently to Red Beach and built their home on the same site as the original cotttage. Dorothy recalls those summer holidays, which began in the 1920s.
My family used to load all our gear into our Essex Super Six car and drive from our home in Auckland to the car ferry, and cross to the North Shore. From there we drove on rough gravel and dirt roads all the way to Red Beach. We used to get lots of flat tyres on those roads and sometimes we had to use chains in the thick mud.
We owned a big chunk of land from Red Beach through to Orewa and in the 1920s it was all covered in pine trees and ferns. As children we spent a lot of time among those trees playing and making huts. Another game we loved was hide and seek – big games that would go on forever and involve the whole family, including our parents. You don’t see that happening as much now. We had a horse called Kitty who lived at the beach all year round – I think the Bayes family used to look after her when we weren’t here. As kids we rode her bareback – sometimes three all at the same time.
There was only one shop back then. I used to take a billy up to the house in what is now Marellen Drive, and get milk or cream from the farmer. Our cottage was quite large and painted bright red. When my husband and I moved here to live 22 years ago we built on exactly the same spot where the old cottage had been. It felt strange at first to be living here; it took me a long time to realise that we weren’t on holiday! I kept expecting to have to pack up and go home.
Where Pinewoods Motor Park is now, that was my uncle’s backyard and it was an old apple orchard that was probably planted by the Bayes family who sold us the land. We used to gather all the apples and sell them. They were all old fashioned varieties, like russets, that you don’t see much now. Really good eating. There was a tennis court in my uncle’s place too and that was how my love of tennis began, playing matches with my family and local children. We used to hold tournaments – sometimes there would be as many as 50 people taking part. Afterwards we’d have a game of cricket on one of the beaches.
We used to do a lot of swimming and fishing with nets for flounder. It wasn’t unusual to catch large sprats too and they made great eating. We’d go out in a boat early in the morning and then have fresh fish for breakfast.
My father had a good friend who also had a place at Red Beach, by the name of Selwyn Robinson. Selwyn had come to New Zealand from the UK and he started a paper company called B J Ball. I remember one terrible day in the 1940s when Selwyn took some local boys out fishing in a rowboat. They put the boat in first thing in the morning at Red Beach and by 5pm that afternoon everyone was wondering where they were. I’ll always remember seeing Mildred, Selwyn’s wife, down on the beach looking desperately out to sea. We got hold of a powerboat from the Bayes family and went out to find them. They were right out at sea, so far you couldn’t see them from the beach, and were drifting, having lost an oar. It was so lucky that we got to them in time.
Although everything around here has changed, when I look at it I can still see it as it used to be. The road I live in is called Marie after my cousin – she lives in Sydney now and is 99 years old this year. Lawrie Street is named after another of my cousins (Marie’s brother) and Walton Street got its name from my uncle, Harold Walton Jones. Marellen Drive is named for Mrs Mary Ellen Bayes and of course there’s Bayes Street as well. A place means so much more when you’ve got memories like that.
One thing we always did was celebrate New Year’s Eve with a big party for family and friends. We’d have an enormous bonfire and my father, who was in the paper business, started a tradition of making paper boats and putting candles in them. We’d float them down the stream that still runs through the back of this property and some of them would get all the way down to Red Beach. They looked so pretty. We’ve kept that going and last New Year’s Eve my children and grandchildren put lots of boats in the steam.
I’ve noticed that over the years that stream has become more silted up than it used to be and it’s full of ducks. We used to swim in it, but I wouldn’t do that now.
I’ve always loved Red Beach in particular, as this is where we spent most of our time. Some people think the ‘red’ refers to the pohutukawas when they flower along the beachfront, but in fact it’s the reddish brown shells on the beach. It’s very strange that Red Beach is the only one on the peninsula with those particular shells. The beach is also a nice size – small enough to feel as though it’s ‘yours’ and big enough to be interesting to walk along.
My husband Graham used to take a walk along Red Beach every day. I try to do the same, but these days I’ve got so many tennis injuries that it’s not always possible.
I think Red Beach has been lucky avoiding much of the development that’s gone on along the Hibiscus Coast. The neighbours and I have fought various plans, like the one to turn Pinewoods Motor Park into apartments, and we’ve won so far. I think it’s too small a place to have big developments like that.
Tennis has been a big part of my life ever since those early days at Red Beach. I’m still patron of the Manly Veterans Tennis Club. I helped to raise funds to build it. It opened in June 1999 and is unique in New Zealand – the only one that is a veteran’s only club. ‘Veteran’ in tennis means 35, but we start accepting members from the age of 40 as 35 seems far too young to be a veteran at anything! Among our older members there are quite a few hip and knee replacements – I think there may be more replacements than real joints in the club! I’ve had to give up playing recently, but I still go down to the club every few days to keep an eye on what’s happening.
