Hunters

About Me

"I cuss like a sailor, but I try not to. I'm obsessed with having clean fingernails, yet they always seem to be dirty. I think this is a good sign for life. People fascinate me and scare me with how much they touch my solar plexis. I'm overly-emotional and under-involved. I've began watching. I'm a catalyst by energy, a scientist by nature, a spiritualist by intellect. No one knows me well. That's because I'm crazy. No really. I am."

From The Editor

My grandfather, Henry (Harry) Burgess was a Captain of the Southern Cross IV, which was contracted to the Melanesian Mission.

"The "Southern Cross" was a ship of just over 400 tons register. Her Captain was Harry Burgess, who understood all her moods, and knew the islands as probably no one else did. He was a great skipper and a dependable friend to every member of the staff of the Mission.

He had four daughters, the eldest of whom was Mary, my mother who married (Tim) Lorenzo Sandilands Baker, who grew up in Fielding, and moved to Paengaroa when his father died when he was about 7.

The other daughters were Jessica, Dorothy and Marjory, all of whom, except Auntie Jess, are dead now. Mum died in 1990.

The first three words Grandpa taught his daughter were Pappa, Jessica and fresh, Pappa being a noun, Jessica being her name, and fresh being the feeling after a warm bath.

Imagine my surprise when I crossed paths with another "Pappa Jessica Fresh" three years ago in 2006.