Welcome to my family pages and I belong to a family that a person can be most proud of! Our heritages in New Zealand go back to the 1860’s or before, both on my mother’s side and on my fathers and so we are in the NZ Founders Society. We originally came from Sussex way from the Willsons and McTurks from Scotland on my mother’s side with a bit of Welsh, Germanic and Jewish blood in us according to our DNA. Where do I come from? Actually, from a small town in New Zealand called Tauranga, although we did not live there very long, just long enough for me to have some memories of my great grandmother and her house on the hill, long gone now both the house and herself. The Australian part comes in because when I landed in Australia in 1978, I asked and received Australian citizenship based on my father being born in Denmark, near Albany in Western Australia. Although he left when about 7 years old, it was enough to gain my papers. His parents met there, with my grandfather Ralph being one of the land clearers under a government scheme, where he met Molly and they married. I still have relatives there from my grandmothers’ brothers’ side, while my grandparents called on the family to relocate them back to the west coast of New Zealand. It was many years later that my father decided to travel to Australia and then found out that he needed a passport plus what nationality was he after many years in New Zealand? But for New Zealand I call myself a Waikato man, having lived in Hamilton for most of my youth and so the Chiefs are my rugby team! We also lived in south Auckland and a few other places as my father moved about with his building career. There are quite a few bridges, churches, multi-story and houses around Hamilton way that attest to his skill in building.

As an expat. family left behind usually takes second place, although there are people who do regularly take trips back to their native countries each year. We did not get enough time with our respective families and saw too many of our younger relatives grow up and leave their homes before we even got to know them! Now they have families of their own that we have never met. So, look at the family pages, which I shall continually update as we go along and get to know some of the history of the Willsons, travellers and hardworking people all!  With Marika, and Marg earlier, we liked to see the world and have utilized many of our holiday breaks and times between contracts to do just that. It is not always glamour the work, with long hours and six-day weeks, but you do get a certain amount of recognition being a “farangi” on overseas postings. Certainly, we enjoy the opening hours of shops in Asia, the life in 5-star hotels, the dinners we share and the friends we meet. Also, the level of service encountered in Asia is usually very good and we do get a bit spoilt! But, on the downside, living in some of these cities can be extremely frustrating. Service may be good, but professionalism can be miles behind! Road conditions, crowding, pollution and traffic are definitely hazards to be lived with. Try also to obtain the foods you like and you encounter just plain frustration and unavailability! And then there is the bureaucracy and the bribes!

My family as I said is quite large, with the four of us, my three aunts from my father’s side, Elma (deceased), Phyllis and Bernice (deceased), all with families of their own and also four brothers and sisters on my mother’s side with Claire (deceased), Katy (deceased), Leslie and brother John. Featured here is Marika’s page, my late wife Marg’s page, plus my page and our families including my late parents. Not to forget our pets, where Twiggy and Brando take pride of place, my soulmates and fur bundles over the last nine years or so and who kept me grounded and sane during the lock-down times!

We are quite a traveling family with one niece having studied in Brazil, another in Australia and all my family having travelled overseas in some capacity, – in fact, I do not think there is anyone who is above 30 that has not taken at least one trip away. My aunt Kate used to go skiing over to Europe nearly every year and now concentrates on home skiing fields, but was also very involved in development work in Nepal. Another cousin and her son do charity work in India, Calcutta mainly, and have just celebrated 10 years of their charity. Some of the family is now living in Australia, as in a cousin in Brisbane and my brother in Sydney, one is a PhD graduate living in the USA, and of course I have been away from NZ since 1978.But basically, my family is divided into two parts, with my sister Debby and myself having both lived overseas for many years and my other sister Judith and brother Trevor having taken smaller trips away, with Trevor even working in the Cook Islands for a year! It was also a factor why we could not have a group family photograph taken for nearly 20 years, as either one or another of us was always missing from the picture! Mind you, in 2001 was also the first time in 30 odd years that we all spent Christmas together, mostly my fault though, as the Hotels are always busiest at Christmas and it is only when I am between jobs that this period can be enjoyed with family, and it was just a month before I relocated to Chennai and the start of my 22 years there.

The following family pages are produced and bought to you with love and affection for my family. As I do not have children of my own, this site is also my legacy site, along with https://chefwilli.com/ and a little bit of me that I can leave behind for all to share! As a family, we do not get to see each other as often as we should! Maybe they would like to see some different photographs presented, or some different writing – I hope they do and will keep me supplied with more photographs that can be shown here of the Willson and all our wanderings and a little bit of their lives, loves and joys. Enjoy the pictures, read the writings and contact me if you so desire at https://nzkiwiana.com/contact/.