71 Years

Last year 70 years since the Tangiwai Disaster happened was commemorated. Tony's grandfather was on the train on his way to visit family whilst his wife was in Europe on an art tour. Walter Murray's body was sadly never found. He was in one of the carriages that went into the river and was swept away.

We had not known until after the news last year that this event is remembered every Christmas Eve at the time it happened by the local community so we made it our mission to get to it this year. You never know how many tomorrow's you have.

We left around 9.30am from Tauranga and decided to be spontaneous by having breakfast up the top of the gondolas in Rotorua. It was a great stop especially knowing that our day would end in what we expected to be a moving ceremony.

We stopped off at Turangi to put some air in our tyres -damn potholes - then again along the desert road for coffee in the van, finally arriving at Tangiwai around 2pm where we had a good look round and then a snooze.

Around 6.30pm while we were eating a yummy chicken salad a couple of guys arrived and started setting up tripods. We got a bit excited thinking finally they are getting things ready - there had been no sign of anything going down but when Tony finished gulping down his dinner to talk to them they said they were there to film the last train of the night.

Unfortunately they didn't mention that until a minute beforehand and we had to run up a hill real fast and only just managed to capture it. If you want to see that check out geoffmackley on YouTube. However they were also wrong as two more came by but more on that later

Finally a couple of guys arrived around 8ish and started setting up. One was Fred the Lions Club President who I had corresponded with and the other an Historian also with the club. They were fabulous to talk to.

The service itself was lovely. Local iwi welcomed us, a bell was rung and a few incredible stories told. We sung Whakaaria Mai and Silent Night and wreaths were laid at various spots. Names were called out including Tony's grandfather Walter E Murray. Very moving.

After it finished we waited for 20 minutes for the real final train to arrive. It slowed on the bridge and let out a very long toot. That was the undoing of both of us.

We had thought we would stay in the carpark for the night but after we got into bed we saw lights and a car stopped at the loos then slowly drove past us obviously looking in.

We decided to move rather than be a temptation and headed to Waiouru museum where lots of other cans were parked. Very quiet and much safer.

Up the next day before everyone else to race home for Christmas lunch with Kelly and the boys.

We will never forget this special occasion.Læs mere