Christmas

We had a lovely Christmas day with Mat & Ro & their 4 children. Cheers guys if you happen to be reading this! Along with Rich & Rach & their 2 kids, plus Mat's mum & dad, it definitely was a 'real' family Christmas. The Taieri River runs through their farm so early evening we went down for a spot of fishing. We didn't catch anything, but it was still good fun. Rich was determined not to miss any of the action, gammy ankle & all!

On Boxing day we drove to Christchurch, via a stop at the Moeraki boulders. Christchurch was cool, I caught up with my friend Rose who I used to play rugby with at Reading. Her & her husband have immigrated to NZ & have been here a couple of years now. Will & I had a lovely fish & chip meal on Sumner Beach. Christchurch appeals as a destination when I eventually return to NZ. I love the idea of the beach 15 minutes or so away, & mountains also close by.

On the 27th we drove to Kaikoura for the night. This was memorable for a very very nice meal of huge NZ mussels washed down by a lovely Marlborough Sauv Blanc.

If we thought that meal was impressive, it wasn't a patch on Nelson the following night. We ordered an incredible seafood platter which had fish bites, mussels, scallops, calamari, king prawns, smoked salmon, cheeses, an antipasto selection, & a loaf of warm Ciabatta. We basically stuffed ourselves silly for less then the price of an ordinary pub meal in the UK!

The following day it was back over the Cook Strait & back to the North Island...