Excerps from Early New Zealand Immigrant letters

Dear Grandma,
  ... There were lots of people sick here on the ship because we were cramped up together and all the passengers were sleeping in the hold.
       We filled in the long hours by cooking, cleaning, washing, reading and playing cards. The older children attended school. In the evenings there were dances and musical entertainment, ...
      
Love from 
Daniel


Dear Mehak,
      ... When we arrived in New Zealand it was covered in swamps and thick green bushes. The first thing our family did was put up a tent. For a couple of days we lived in a tent. My big brother and I went out to shoot some birds to have for our dinner. When we came back with some birds, we made a fire to cook it. Our Mother cooked the birds carefully on the fire. She was really good at that. After a couple of days we started making the raupo hut. We collected a lot of raupo sticks and started to make the wall of the house. My big brother and I collected some shells for a shell path for security. After 10 days we were finished.
            Please tell everybody we miss our family in England. I think when you receive this letter we would have our own land.

Love from 
Mehar

Dear Grandfather,
     ... The ship hit land. We looked around the campsite and all that was there was trees, trees and more trees! Father found the right spot, not in the shade and not in the sun. Father worked and worked to put the tent up. For dinner we ate leftover ships biscuits while dad finished the tent. 
         The next day dad started to collect shells and wood for our raupo but. Dad and I walked through the woods and stopped at a steep hill. Bits of dirt crumbled off into the swamp. I collected shells. Athe hut we 0placed them into a path. Our raupo shut started to come alive. ...

Love
Alistair