h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

About the time of the land clearances the wild spaces of New Zealand were being opened up so lots were shipped to New Zealand - voluntarily- if you can call a choice to stay and starve or emigrate much of a choice. Hence the fact we have a city like Dunedin with a statue of Robbie Burns,lots of people with Macs and Mcs starting their names and more bagpipes per head of population than Scotland.
My husband's family had the surname McRae and established Blairich station....strangely enough a sheep station.[ Probably figured there was something in this sheep business if you had the room ! ]
Being a Kiwi I found the Highlands the best place I ever visited overseas [ well- equal best with Wales ]. The people were really friendly, the wild open spaces reminded me so much of home, the Scots tell the best Irish jokes,and I loved the way they were moaning about the rubbish at the bottom of the river in Inverness....compared with the rest of Europe the fact that you could see the bottom [ clear water ] was good.

Hi Keeza,

I'm also a direct descendent of George McRae of Blairich sheep station. I assume there must be a lot of us as I believe he had 11 kids. I don't expect you will read this after 12 years but I thought I would post just in case. Would like to compare notes. I live in England and have never been to New Zealand but intend to correct that soon.