A boater came to stay!

Last week, we had a very welcome visitor: Adrian from Briar Rose came and stayed a few nights with us, and it was so lovely to get to know him better and to show him a little bit of where we live.

We introduced him to some distinctly kiwi treats and his reactions were:

• tamarillos: yes, they are nice (i.e. I wasn't sure he was particularly enthusiastic ...)
• Whittakers hokey pokey chocolate: I am going to buy some of this to take home
• hokey pokey icecream:  why don't we have this in England? can I make it? (answer 1: I don't know, seems like a severe lapse in judgement by UK icecream makers. answer 2: yes, you can. I'll get you an Edmonds cookbook that has a hokey pokey recipe in it, as well as all sorts of other delightful stuff.)
• feijoas: turned his face away from the aroma, screwed up his nose.  (Therefore he was not given any - no point in wasting such delicious fruit on an unappreciative recipient, is there? So Jane and Simon, David and I ate them all. Adrian topped up with hokey pokey icecream instead ...)
• jaffas (a chocolate orange mouthful, as the advertising used to say): 'as long as they don't taste like Jaffa cakes.'  No they don't, so we managed to get through most of them. Some were saved to go with that night's serving of hokey pokey icecream ...

I think he was texting with Adam at this time - Adam was on night shift at the BBC so they were in synch time-wise! But NZ sauvignon blanc was consumed along with nibbles. We were waiting for Simon and Jane to arrive for dinner.

David took him for a walk up into Hemi Matenga, the hilly wooded park that backs on to the village of Waikanae. He enticed him with the (false) information that it was only about a 400 feet climb. Actually, it was about 400 metres upward and quite muddy underfoot due to a fair bit of rain in the days before, so it was a good thing that he had taken one of our walking poles and that he could have a blob in the afternoon... As did David, by the way, but his excuse was that he'd been up at 3am listening to the impeachment hearings.

Adrian and I went for a walk on the beach one morning. The tide was out and the only things to avoid were the portuguese men of war that had washed up. Most of them were already dead, but they can still pack a vicious sting!

He is taller than Kapiti Island

This was on the beach next to...

this - a log that was covered in them. Not sure what the molluscs are, but obviously they had been growing on that small log for quite some time before being washed ashore.

Then we repaired to a cafe in the village - we had looked at the cafes close to the beach but one has turned into a Mexican cantina (not my favourite food), and the other two were extremely full. So the Olive Grove it was. And while its clientele look very much like a meeting of the OAPs clubs, the food is REALLY good. I had creamy mushrooms with bacon and ciabatta and Adrian had a BLT. His comment was they do know how to do a good BLT.

And then it was off to an afternoon session at the movies. We saw Fisherman's Friends. I would happily watch that again.

At Shoreline Cinema in Waikanae - lovely comfortable seats, cushions and wine. What more could we need?

David and Adrian in the afternoon sunshine. I forgot to put in this picture so have added it now (1 Dec). You can see how tall he is when you compare him to David. I had asked him to bring in the washing while I was sorting out something in the kitchen before we headed outside for a drink. Then I noticed that, to put the pegs back on the line as per instructions, Adrian had to put himself between the lines with his head and shoulders up above them ...

The next morning, David and I were due to head north to Taranaki for my nephew's wedding, and Adrian was to head into stay in a B&B in the Aro Valley. But he was a bit poorly - I blame his refusal to eat feijoas (actually it was a chicken burger consumed in Melbourne - those bloody Aussies!) - so I took him up to our medical centre. We all agreed he should stay on at our place overnight as his B&B was up a trillion steps and a poorly person should not tackle them until much better.

So we left him reclining in one of the lazyboy chairs and headed away with cheese tart and a large (thanks to David for all the grating) beetroot and carrot salad as part of our contribution to the wedding feast.

Cheese tart in a roasting pan. Dee and I saved it for after most of the guests had gone on Sunday ...

Adrian has since fully recovered, and has been posting amazing photos of his time in Wellington, his ferry trip to Picton and his peregrinations around Nelson. And today he starts his trip back to the UK. I drove in to meet him for the stopover. And happily I also saw Dean who I worked with on the mine remediation projects at Waiuta and Alexander on the West Coast. Yay!!

Checking in at Wellington. Unfortunately Adrian has to pick up his bag again at Brisbane and re-check in for the flights to London.

A glass of wine and a selfie before he heads away.

And off he goes.

He is under strict instructions to drag Adam here asap!