The Webb family thrived on adventures exploring the Ormondville area, especially walking in the bush, along the roads or following railway tracks. During the summer the bush provided “delightful shade”, preferable to walking along the roads which were exposed to the “relentless sun” and prone to be dusty. Patty, the children’s mother, found walking in the bush “very tiring”, having to “scramble” her way over fallen trees and through prickly ‘bush lawyer’.
Following the railway sleepers was an alternative to battling through the bush, although it seemed “very strange” and eerie, with “impenetrable dense forest on both sides”.
Weather conditions during winter months were extreme, so the family indulged in indoor pursuits. When tired of being housebound, a walk along the Ormondville – Norsewood road was a must, as the road was “passable in wet weather” being “kept in good repair”.
Although most people were “obliged to ride to go anywhere”, horse riding was nonetheless a favourite leisure-time activity. To reach the homestead of Couper and Knight’s farm at Kaitoki, near Dannevirke, the Manawatū River had to be crossed - an exercise which could be extremely dangerous as it was “both wide and rapid”.
For the Webb family, horse riding had never been a priority while living in England so, although novices, they were keen to learn. Reverend Webb purchased an “amiable” little mare named Winnie, who was “in fine form for riding” and the girls very quickly “ventured on her”. Mary, the eldest, when taking her first lesson, was admired for “her firm seat and erect bearing”.
At age 52, Patty very bravely experienced her first horse ride guided by Miss Knight, a friend and capable rider. The two women set off after lunch, riding for 10 miles (16 kilometres), part of which was through dense forest where they constantly had to avoid being struck by large branches. The horses tentatively “picked their way neatly over roots and fallen trees, and through nasty boggy places” while, as Patty related, all she had to do was sit “quietly on her steed” and “admire the beauty” of the bush.
The riders then descended “frightfully” steep banks, during which time, Patty’s very quiet horse, that travelled “at a nice pace”, was “inclined to rebel”. At one stage her horse adamantly refused to move, so she “whipped him in vain” until Miss Knight came and “pulled him down with her”. When she let go at the bottom, the horse plunged into the creek and “bravely up the other bank”. One of the most “pleasant rides” was to Norsewood, and a favourite return trip was through Makotoku where there was a “pretty bit of road”.
Lawn tennis was popular among the youngsters during the summer months, although not much “patronised in the bush” through the “want of a court”. As ardent participants of the sport, a priority for the Webbs was to form a court in the front paddock.
Prior to this, tennis was played on “a tolerably clean piece of ground” which had been cleared of native timber, except for one log which was laid in the middle of the court to serve as a make-shift net. The ground proved rough with little hillocks and roots sticking up indiscriminately in every direction. This made playing dangerous as the competitors, while handling heavy wooden rackets, could easily trip and fall when running to reach the ball.
The following year, the construction of the tennis court was complete, and the eagerly anticipated competition with the Fribergs “who are Germans although you could not tell they are not English by their habits and language” was imminent. The contestants begun “practising vigorously” with the intention of giving the Friberg family “a fearful licking” – a repeat of the previous year’s competition.
Mary, the eldest daughter, was the only member of the family who owned a “proper” racket – she had been sent it from Aunt Mary in the Christmas box containing gifts for all the family. Mary wrote that the day after opening the box, “Papa gave us a holiday and we went out into the paddock directly after breakfast and had several (tennis) games”.
Dora’s essay New Zealand Recreations shows that leisure activities strengthened relationships among families and communities, provided a sense of individual achievement and success, and enabled each person to cope with the tedium and repetitiveness of everyday life. It was recreation that helped the Webb family to fully embrace their new life in a foreign country.
