My New Zealand Dream: Growth and Destruction

By Sheila Smith

This is a creative nonfiction story and memoir of my life so far. This is the second book in my series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris NZ
• Release date: Aug 25, 2020
• ISBN: 9781543496383

Book preview

Mr Right

Peter’s flat situation had not worked for him and Steve. It was not long after my visit with Joel they were kicked out. Peter was hanging around with Blue again, sleeping at his Camberley house and went full swing into the opium scene.

Blue and Peter had a run-in with Rick; he found evidence of their drug habits and accused Peter of stealing from his garage. As far as Rick was concerned, Peter was responsible for leading Blue, who was eight years older than him into this drug-hazed life; he promptly kicked both of them to the curb.

Our mother came to the rescue once again. She helped Blue and Peter get a flat in a street far away from Camberley called Whitehead Road, a much better area. Mum would give them food parcels regularly as all their money after rent went up their arms.

Mum brought Peter what would be the first in a whole line of different cars as he did not look after them or crashed them. She named them all. This one was a bright-green hatchback called Kermitt. I only remember visiting this flat once. It was a depressing scene, tearing at my heartstrings. Guilt ate away at me as I couldn’t forget I’d introduced my little brother to Blue. I wanted to protect Peter. I wanted to save him, only he could do this himself. This was a bitter jagged pill I had to swallow.

Around this time, news hit the headlines about one of our old camps Peter and I attended when we were younger every school holidays. The camp property was being raided for weapons, even nuclear ones. According to the news, the people that ran this camp were actually an occult movement. They believed the leader of this camp whom we never actually saw when we attended was Jesus Christ. The people had been creating an army to fight in what they believed were the end days fast approaching.

The leader lived on the property in a literally huge castle. I do remember seeing bits of this castle as a kid in camp. I had thought it was a fairy-tale part of a new activity being built for the children. Well, I was very wrong. The leader lived there and had servants running around after him, mostly many women who were also his wives. All the women had to wear floral dresses the article stated as the leader wanted to look down from his castle and see beautiful flowers as scenery.

Once you had joined this group of people, you were expected to never leave the property or attend school. People lived in caravans scattered below this towering castle. The actual camp part was far away from all of this but still on the same property. The children stayed in cabins when attending camp I recall. We were all put in groups and given jobs such as serving meals, dishes, food prep, feeding animals, cleaning. We had to do our jobs before any fun activities such as canoes, horse riding, confidence course etc.

They had a colossal hall and dining area where children including Peter and I attended church services and ate meals. We learnt religious songs I still remember and were given lessons. One was tested on their knowledge about those lessons. If you got the answers, right you earnt a certificate and could choose which activity you wanted to do for the rest of the day. I remember gaining many of these certificates, which in actual fact were brainwashing techniques and not scripturally based at all. I was approached as I had completed the course of certificates to come back as a leader and be in charge of my own cabin of children, teaching them what I had learnt. This was how they inducted people from the outside to join them.

I did come back as a leader; it did not work out for me. I had two twins in my cabin who were really naughty. They threw stones at me. When I threw a stone back, I was asked to leave the camp. They rang my mother to pick me up. Thankfully this was a blessing in disguise I now see.

These people did some horrific things. The leader slept with girls as young as thirteen. The buildings were discovered to have secret passageways so all this could be done without anyone else discovering. The camps were finally closed down a few years after Peter and I had attended our last one.

I got back into the drinking and clubbing scene with my old friend Kath from primary school again. Kath had a friend called Meg. She was a bit wild and liked to dance on top of the giant speakers at the clubs but had lots of fun. When we went out, Kath’s latest boyfriend would drive us over to the Napier clubs in his red GTO. We liked it a lot better there, far less gang activity.

We would always drink at Meg’s, first spending hours getting ready, doing each other’s hair and make-up, and dancing. I had a special item of clothing I loved to wear the most, a pair of black velvet knee-high boots. Those had a nickname fuck-me boots! My fave drink now had gone from Bacardi and Coke to Madore (melon liquor) and lemonade.

I found a job in the local paper, the perfect fit, a live-in nanny position. Since I now had experience working as a nanny and babysitting, I was confident I had a chance. Cliff and Dyane owned a huge lifestyle block with an orchard close to Hamoana Beach. They had two children, Jason eight years old and Sarah six years old. The children took an instant shine to me, especially Sarah, and I was hired. The position would be for six months.

The house was immaculate, lavish, and enormous. Part of my job description was to keep this gigantic house clean, prepare meals, garden, and feed the many animals such as horses, pigs, chickens, cats, and a dog. I as well as took care of the children’s needs when they got home from school until Dyane returned from the orchard on her horse and cart. It was like living in a different era. Of course, being in a live-in position when Dyane returned, I did not always get to knock off. Jason and Sarah wanted me to play. I barely had any time to