Before I published my first book, I wrote a story called Summer in the City. The heroine was a country girl and funnily enough, her name was Summer. She was a trainee librarian, and she moved to Auckland for further training and to get away from her overprotective family. I knew she came from the country, but I wasn’t sure where Summer and her family lived.
I consulted a map and finally decided on Eketahuna because I liked the name and the way it sounded. For the uninitiated, Eketahuna is north of Wellington. As I mentioned, it’s a country town, but I’d never visited the place before.
The story featuring Summer is available now as Innocent Next Door, the first book in my Military Men series.
I’ve always meant to write more stories in this series, and earlier this year, I had the spark of an idea for one of Summer’s brothers.
Two weeks ago, Mr. Munro and I flew down to Palmerston North, hired a car and drove down to Eketahuna. I took lots of notes and photos and the new story is percolating away inside my head. Like many of our country towns, Eketahuna is smaller than it used to be, but one thing that delighted me is that the town still has a library.
Here are a few photos of Eketahuna
Wild kiwis live in the Eketahuna area so there are lots of Kiwi signs.
The township of Eketahuna. A sleepy little town!
More kiwis!
The Anglican (Church of England) church.
Beautiful countryside surrounds the town of Eketahuna.
Check out the books in the Military Men series:
Book 1 – Innocent Next Door
Book 2 – Soldier With Benefits
Book 3 – Safeguarding Sorrel
Military Men Box set – featuring books 1 – 3
That’s a big Kiwi. Love the pictures.
It was big! I’m glad you enjoyed the photos. It was a fun trip.