When my grandfather, Ron ALLEN, retired from Army life, he became one of the last lighthouse keepers in New Zealand. Between 1974 and 1982, he and his family (wife Valerie and their two younger sons) lived in some of the most wild and beautiful places in New Zealand:
- Burgess Island, which is the middle of three islands in the Mokohīnau group, North-East of Auckland
- Cape Brett, a peninsula in the Bay of Islands
- Portland Island, off the southern tip of the Māhia peninsula in Hawke’s Bay
- Cape Reinga, at the very top of the North Island




Ron and Val loved the tough, untamed lifestyle so much that after the lighthouses became automated, they moved to Great Barrier Island for several years before finally retiring back to the North Island.