Christmas 2020

  By the time Heather arrives on the 22nd I have had a few baking days and stuffed the freezer full of food. She has been consigned to the office sleeping quarters.

Lunch and wine tasting at Milltons

I have winetasting on the Program for Wednesday, but I was caught out by the fact that so many of the wineries were shut, so in the end we did a comprehensive tasting at Milltons - which as you can imagine was very popular with visitors to Gisborne, and enjoyed our picnic lunch. The Rose was particularly good, and the Chenin Blanc is most distinctive.

Thursday  Heather and I went to Supergrans to do some packing of flour and coffee; and also went for a walk along the riverbank to see where the new Supergrans building is being renovated with a commercial kitchen, then along the cut to the beach. 

After our good deeds we manage to wile away the time with reading, puzzles and Heather kindly helped me dead-head the roses which are now blooming beautifully. Heather can also add Nut Spotter to her CV, which was very helpful me as she checked one side of the tree and I checked the other.

Soon 5 o'clock rolls round and it is time for a predinner drink on the deck.

Well always think that Champagne is a prerequisite to present opening on Christmas morning. We're not going to change that habit even though there was only 3 of us.

We had a leisurely day, with new books to read, and the weather was starting to turn.

Jill, Millie,and Rua arrived mid morning on Boxing Day and it was straight into the activities on the Rail Bike Trail.

Jill and Rua are in the rear going out - thoroughly enjoying the view.

The most adventuresome part was crossing the Waipaoa River

One part had no side guard rail which was a bit freeky.

No steering was required, but Duncan liked to just check where we were going.

The guide was Geoff Main. He paced us, and made sure the tracks had no debris on them

Heather and Millie

Bit of a selfie - clouds starting to gather.

Heading back, Duncan and I are in the rear. The rears ahead of us are those of Heather and Millie.

Not that the biking was very arduous, but Sunshine Brewery is on the same street, so we thought we would wet our whistle here before going home. I'd put on a chicken slow cooker and had a vegetarian lasagne in the deep freeze, so dinner got underway. I was intending to have this absolutely spectacular dessert of a pavlova with a pineapple sponge filling, but unfortunately the cream had been left out on the bench and curdled as soon as Millie started to whip it. Frantically googled - does long life cream whip? The answer is not very well.

 Sunday: Time for another champagne breakfast I think - this time with croissants and pain au chocolat.  The usual Christmas games were played - mainly quizzes. I would suggest Jill was the winner. The weather was not great, but we decided to go and view the new sculptures down by the wharf and on Kaiti Hill. A good bit of exercise. Tonight we headed for The Works for dinner - Heather was not feeling so good and had to sit this one out. A good night was had by the rest of us.

Millie and I went shopping so I could shout her a new top since she has qualified for a Queen's Scout Award. She also went shopping with Rua - he bought quite a bit and Millie bought the top she is wearing above. So on Monday afternoon Heather left, and early Wednesday Millie boarded a bus to head to Rotorua (Where Jordan lives) for the continuation of her holiday. Jill and Rua did a trip up to Tolaga, but the weather was still not great. On Thursday 31st Jill and Rua had a winetasting and lunch at the Vines, while Duncan played golf. I dropped them out at the airport for the 4 o'clock plane. 

The place seems very quiet.

I am making my way through the leftovers.