Tangiwai : Weeping Waters

Alois Hartmann was cursing his father's incredible view, not to pass the farmstead over to him, the second born.

Hand over head he left embittered and angry, together with his young wife Judith, the home valley in Switzerland and immigrated to New Zealand.

He vowed loudly that he would show them all, who knew best about livestock and crop cultivation. The land at Taranaki was fertile and the Hartmann-Station became with the years an impressive property.

But it demanded everything, hard work and solitude. Judith felt robbed of all her dreams and illusions. On Christmas Eve 1953 she set off to visit her only friend at Auckland, to find comprehension, comfort and advice.

On that Holy Night nobody knew that the train would never reach its final destination, perhaps only the angry Mount Ruapehu...