Finally, after a wait of 365 days, Christmas arrives. The first party in New Zealand was on the Monday 23rd when Sally entertained Simone and her family. In fact Irene and I have known them on and off for a few years and seen the youngest of her children grow up from babyhood. The house was full of fun and presents were exchanged. Simone even bought gifts for Irene and me.
Irene and I left for the nearby B and B on Monday night. It was superb accommodation hosted by a very friendly Iain Campbell and his wife Jan. After a comfortable night we had a good continental style breakfast before walking down to Sylvia Road.
Christmas eve was more than a day of preparation. Ian's nieces, Sam and Ellie arrived from California and later Joni and Fiona flew in from Wellington.
On Christmas morning Irene and I woke in our B and B room. We exchanged presents. We both knew what the other was giving. I had kept mine a secret until we arrived at customs in Auckland. I was called over because the X-ray showed that I had a pair of secateurs in my luggage. It wasn't that what I was bringing in was sharp. They were worried that the garden tool was covered in foreign, polluted earth. I assured the officers that the tools were new and clean.
We also finished off the advent calendars that Sally had given us. The top of each box came off revealing a large, hollow chocolate Santa.
When we arrived back at the family home it was still quiet. This did not last long as the Santa presents were rapidly unwrapped amidst excited shouts.
At lunch time bacon was cooked on the barbecue and put on to pancakes with maple syrup.
After lunch it was the dog's turn to get some exercise. It was also an opportunity for mum and I to sit on the bench at Glover Park overlooking Brown's Island.
We were very worried that Bubbles would take it into his head to chase the ball over the cliff. I kid you not, his obsession with chasing and retrieving the ball is the stuff of legends.
A photograph of the group was also necessary.
The traditional swim with the new pool toys was to follow.
Even Bubbles joined in.
This activity gave me the opportunity to build Emily's Lego boat.
Unwrapping the gifts under the tree was the next activity.
The main Christmas meal followed when we ate ham and pork. Please notice the absence of young people who opted to sit at the table on the decking.
There was, of course, Christmas pudding. Joni and Fiona made their own brandy butter as this is not a product easily found in New Zealand. Unfortunately the brandy butter and the mashed potatoes were in similar dishes. I discovered this at the first spoonful from my Christmas pudding dish.
Pavlova is the more normal choice of pudding.
To end the day the young people played noisy party games and karaoke while the adults looked on.
For us Christmas day was over. Mum and I retired to our peaceful b and b.
In the morning we said goodbye to our hosts as we prepared to move to another accommodation down the road.
This was the home of one of Sally's friends. We had met them earlier. It turned out that before coming to live in New Zealand they lived in Beeston near to our previous home. They were to leave for a family holiday on Boxing Day morning and we would house and cat sit for them.
Before moving into the house we went on a journey north with Joni and Fiona. Our first stop was the Honey Centre at Warkworth. It was also a cafe. We sat out in the blazing sun talking on the phone to both our UK families.
We visited the shop and tasted the honey. I took photos of the observation hives.
Our destination was 'Sculptureum' at Matakana. This was what it says. Admission was quite expensive and we were asked if we had a 'Gold Card'. I said that I had a Derbyshire Gold Card so we were admitted on the strength of "Two normals and two Derbyshire Gold Cards".
We started at the outside area.
Inevitably there were photographs to show where we had been.
After refreshments we went to the indoor galleries even though a large section of it was outside.
The polar bear marked the start of the fun section that had a large, green rabbit,
meerkats of various colours,
and, of course, the world famous, pink snails.
There were a few more beautiful exhibits as we made our way out of the gallery.
For lunch we were taken to 'Brick Bay Wines and Sculpture Trail'. Our only interest was food. This came in the form of sharing plates.
Joni and Fiona sampled wines.
Joni read that one of his wines had a flavour of leather, while I read the label on my bottle which claimed to have the nature of a Ford Cortina or a well loved white shirt.
Our Boxing Day meal was ham and we played 'Flux' before returning, once more, to our quiet accommodation.
No comments:
Post a Comment