It's Showtime

Well, we are back in blighty and normal service will now be resumed. As will the normal English summer weather it would appear - raining, thick fog, and a little bit chilly.

Mad dogs and Englishwomen are going out despite there being no midday sun. Today it was the 65th Annual Froggatt Horticultural Show. I haven't been since I was a revolting teenager, all you got to do at the show back then was admire the vegetables and listen to the brass band. To my delight and surprise, nothing had changed!

OK - they were obviously a few changes, there were old cars to look at, and a few more stalls to amuse, and it was £2 to get in. We cooed over the cabbages, were brought close to tears by the onions, and were amazed at the size of one of the marrows.

Knitting with one hand

The best quote from the sushi evening. From Ingrid, who was pleased to have some chopstick lessons, but I fear the seaweed was a little challenging. At one point she said, "I've a very confused middle finger!"

Sushi chef Oskar, with assistance from Maisie, produced the most impressive array of sushi for our enjoyment.

For those following the pudding progress…pavlova with frozen raspberries, and plenty of whipped cream.

Who ate all the pies?

My birthday started well, with coffee and cake in bed. Then after picking up Maisie's best mate, it was time to top up the cake levels, a stop in at Garnet Station was required. Ginger Crunch - yum.

Then it was off to the art gallery where there were some very nice Goldie paintings, and some not so nice contemporary New Zealand paintings. I'm not sure there was one I liked, disappointing as there's so much good stuff around.

We then did a swop of Euthymol toothpaste for wine at my old bosses place - a very good trade indeed, I really cant understand the Euthymol attraction, but Tom's face lit up with delight when presented with it. (Weird)

Home in time to prepare for the pot luck supper before friends arrived. We had decided upon easy to cook open topped pies. As three of the expected guests were blokes, we made plenty. The thing is about a pot luck supper, is the luck element. And as luck would have it, Louise and Scrub also bought pies. Yay - pie central. The luck continues: with the friends being vegetarian, not only did we have plentiful pies, but the main filling of choice was spinach and feta cheese. Fortunately we had bread and oven fires for a bit of variety. I was sad there wasn't any rice or pasta to provide a full compliment of carbs, but a girl cant have everything.

Louise brought a massive pavlova for pudding which was demolished very nicely, all accompanied by more wine supplied by Phil and Malcolm, a very pleasant evening all round.

There appears to be a pudding theme developing here...

I see no goats

Maisie was determined to go snorkeling at Goat Island Marine Reserve. Desperate to see the fish. Yes I know, it's winter here.

She was so keen we agreed despite the potential water temperature (low) and visibility (poor). As predicted the weather on the chosen day wasn't that great, but not as bad as it could have been. Off we set.

We arrived at the recommended Seafriends snorkel hire shop, and were fitted out (aka squeezed into) with some rather flattering wet-suits, if you like the 'beached as bro' look that is. After listening to the advise that the sea was rather choppy, cold, with poor visibility, we were undeterred.

Down to the waterfront we...not quite sure how to describe it...shlepped, slithered, rolled? The weirdest thing was driving the car whist in full wet-suit, and little booties, I did have the foresight not to wear the flippers, the garment was restricting enough as it was.

The woman was right, the sea was NOT what you would call inviting.

However, we dutifully spat on our masks, wet our faces with the bracing cold water, donned our flippers, and we were in.

The first look into the water, result - I could see my hand in front of my face...but sadly that was it. I got the occasional glimpse of a yellow fin, no not a fish, but either Leanne or Maisie. Maisie squealed with delight when a fish was spotted, or it could have been striped ha ha. But alas, all I saw was a rock, and lots of seaweed.

But I have to say, it was a really invigorating experience, flapping away in 3 meter swells, with no idea of which direction we were going. We lasted an hour before a dash to the shore was necessary. We didn't get cold until we got back into the car having taken off the comforting neoprene outfits.

Waiwera hot-pools were the top of the what to do next list, fortunately just down the road. We were in there like a shot, lovely hot clear water. Mmmm

Rotovegas or bust

A trip to Rotorua was necessary after all our hard work.

The hot thermal waters were calling. We had beautiful sunny days, a little breezy. Maisie as usual complained about the stink, and Leanne was a little concerned that the pavements would collapse under our feet, and we would be plunged into boiling mud.

The worst thing that actually happened was we got a little sunburnt whilst relaxing in the Polynesian spa.

Lists

We have been busy making lists of jobs and fun. But - there's another list to add to the list.....

Things discovered in the house AFTER the container has driven off.

• Dog bed - hmm, a good sturdy raised bed, perfect for the garage or basement, the SPCA have lucked out.
• Bag of dog related accessories, including -favorite lead, a good ceramic feeding bowl, a travel water bowl. Again; going to the SPCA.
• Vacuum cleaner head - admittedly the one we never used, but now rendered completely useless as we can't find anyone with the same brand, a bonus gift for the new occupiers of the house I suspect.
• Leanne's grandfather's homemade quick boil kettle - bit more of a problem for this one, maybe too heavy for the luggage, maybe will have to post it!

Pudding power

Leanne's mum makes the best puddings, and it's a tradition to let the 'kids' choose their favorite for family meal times. On arrival in NZ, somehow I lucked out as it was my favorite on the menu - deep dish apple pie (a modest favorite, I admit, but I love appley things). I managed to get on the list of choosers after about 14 years of being with Leanne, an exclusive list, it may even be easier to become a member of the Middlesex Cricket Club at Lords.

Anyway - the other night it was Leanne's and her sister's choices (yes that's right TWO puddings), lemon souffle (Leanne) and chocolate mousse aka chateau collier (sister's). There wasn't much left of either.

In our defense for having eaten both puddings, we have been working incredibly hard with all our stuff; it all came out of storage, was sorted in what we have termed our life laundry, and is on the high seas as I type. Please can everyone cast a safety spell on our stuff - it's taken years to accumulate so many bits and bobs, it would be a shame for the container to fall off the ship into an ocean.

The packing boys were fabulous, Sam and Thomas, with Halley (after the comet) joining them on day two. No safety shoes (in the NZ tradition), but they were very engaging and fun, and efficient at their job. They were fueled by pies, filled rolls, chips and donuts washed down with fizzy pop and juice.

We are sure to find the weirdest stuff has been packed, we said "not that shelf/pile", but we later discovered the shelf empty and the pile gone. Oh well, on arrival in NZ the best discovery was the brown jam jar with no lid. I actually found the infamous jam jar before the packers arrived, and placed it firmly in the recycling bin to ensure it wasn't returned. On second thoughts - the recycling collection is in 2 days, I might go back and get it. Ha ha.

Kai to Pie

Being a lover of pies, the Museum exhibition was calling. It was a show with NZ food as the main attraction. Kinda cool, but we were keen to go into the main museum to catch up with the artefacts in the Maori hall, not to mention the Fun Ho collection.

Leanne's grandfather sold most of the Fun Ho toy collection to the museum, and we like to visit it. Leanne got a little wistful and reminiscent, and said "I'm still not allowed to play with the damn toys!"