Nana Ailsa has Skyped Scottish people who might be rellies of ours. One of them sent her a picture of this bird called an osprey. It looks so much like the hawk you see over our swamp.

The same woman asked Nana if she’d like to get her DNA tested, so they can work out how closely they’re related: ‘find out who you really are’.

Nana said she already knew who she was. She’s a New Zealander. She’s proud to be one, and proud to have Maori blood in her veins from her Grandad Matiu. I’m a New Zealander, too. And I’m proud to have my little bit of Maori blood.

It takes over twenty-four hours’ flying time to reach Scotland from here, I heard a woman from one of those other families saying at Great-grandad Alan’s funeral. It took nearly 130 days for the very first of our family to sail to New Zealand, Nana Ailsa told me and Meg one time.

Wish I could have met some of them. Aggie the blind one, and her friend Hahona. Duncan with the almost-cut-off leg and his friend Rawiri. Florence and Whina, who lived through the huge earthquake.

Some of them went away, like I might be doing. Niall (feels cheeky to call them just by their first names), who fought in the South African War, and whose horse found its way home from Wellington. Jess and her MBE.

Wonder if I’ll ever do anything important enough to get an award? Not throttling Meg deserves an award, sometimes. Nah, I suppose she’s all right — for a little sister.

I stopped again at the track up to the bridge, and looked around once more. This morning felt like I was seeing things for the last time. That’s rubbish, ’cos even if Mum and Dad do decide to leave, we’ll be here until they sell. But I felt like I almost knew already what they’d decided. And like we were all getting ready to go away.

A truck whirred across the deck above. Great-grandad Alan told me when I was small how the old wooden bridge used to clatter and bang when anything drove over it. ‘Even a flea on a trike woke me up at night.’ I was so young, I believed him.

He was dying then, I suppose. He was going away, too: he said so. ‘I’ll be a long time, Callum, lad. But it’s going to be an interesting trip.’ It was a trip that took him to the cemetery. Heaps of people from our family have made that trip. Guess I will, some day. Hard to believe.

I’d just taken a first step up the track when something incredible happened. I had this sudden thought. Yeah, yeah, it’s incredible for me to have any thoughts.