We traveled back to Pukekohe from Napier just before Christmas.
Seen from the bus
On Christmas morning we opened a few jokey presents. We gave Joc and Albert Alaska socks with moose on them (made in China, of course.) I got covers for ice-box dishes and Jerry got a New Zealand calender.
The tree and presents
In Pukekohe at Jocelyn and Albert’s Joc and I cooked Christmas dinner for four of us. Here are 3 of us. I am behind the camera.
Christmas dinner -- roast chicken
On Boxing Day all of Albert’s and most of Jocelyn’s progeny came for a cook-out. Jocelyn met her newest great-granddaughter, Georgine who was 5 weeks old and already had a passport because she came with her parents from Australia for the holidays. Joc has 4 greats now, 2 boys and 2 girls.
Jocelyn and Georgine
We arrived home on the 29th (another story). On New Years day my grandson James, his wife, Maria and son, Julian came for dinner.
Maria and Julian
Julian takes after his father in food preferences. He likes red meat and smoked salmon dip with chips. I made pavlova which he ate a little bit of.
James and Julian
The new year rolls on. The mountain is still there.
Mt Baker, seen from Lummi Island
It’s a lovely recap of the holidays in words and pictures. Looks like a good time was had by all.
Lovely family and friends.
Great trip, always enjoy your story.
Nice view of Mt Baker! If I stood on one leg, leaned way out and held my tongue just right, I could just see Mt Baker from my old condo near Vancouver. It appeared to float above the horizon, too much haze between me and it, LOL. Your trip to NZ sounds quite wonderful.
That dog is hilarious. And now I can situate you better in my mind as a person who can see Mt. Baker on (rare) clear days.
Looks as if you had a splendid holiday with travel, friends, presents even!
All the best in the new year.
I’ve enjoyed re-living our experiences in NZ via your posts: this is my third comment. Our visits were all towards the end of the year and on the last occasion pretty close to Christmas. I remember taking advantage of Auckland’s greatest bargain: a circular bus service from which you can get and get off as many times as you like and which takes in much of the city. At one point we got off in one of the more demure suburbs – This is Auckland’s Wimbledon, I said to Mrs BB. The name escapes me now but I recall how odd it was to see Christmas street decorations illuminated by bright sunshine.
On several occasions we discussed the great Antipodean Christmas dilemma with our hosts: do you prog up with seasonal, if unsuitable, food at a traditional dinner with plum pud and crackers or do you take a coolie box and a load of tinnies (now called frosties I understand) down to the beach. There is no consensus it remains a dilemma.
Beautiful shot of Mt. Baker, looking so benign.
thanks for the travelogue continuation Anne, never a dull moment with you!
XO
WWW
That photo of Mt Baker almost made me forget that it is summer over there. The Christmas tree, presents and then the snowy mountain fooled me at first.
I just wrote a comment on Darlene’s blog then read yours and you said almost the same thing as me, but with a different conclusion. You have some interesting pictures in your posts. I like the gannet colony. I’ll come back to read some more.
(o)
Happy new year to you and all your happy family.
I’m really enjoying all your trip. Thanks too for all the pictures for the visual reader, me.