A very very very delayed post. Get a cup of tea before you start!

Now this post starts way back in early November last year, for heaven's sake! I will post photos separately.

• Early in November, we had 10 days up in Waitara staying at my sister's motorcamp because it was her daughter's 50th birthday and her twin granddaughters' 13th birthdays. Excellent parties for both a week apart although their birthdays are on the same day, and wonderful to spend time with family - and our lovely Kirsty came over from Sydney for the 50th birthday.
• In late November there was the Parkwood Trust Xmas dinner - paid for by the Trust. Yummy food, but guess who really doesn't like aubergine - even though he hasn't tasted it? A very convivial time.
• I turned 74 early in December and I don't remember what we did for my birthday. Oh yes I do! We went out for lunch after the lovely Michelle gave me a haircut.
• Lunch was at the Sprig and Fern in Tawa, and we sat at a table next to a group of Samoan people who were the only brown people in the whole place. As I do, I chatted with them throughout the meal, and when we got up to leave, they had left just before us. When we got to the counter to pay, the server told us the man at the table next to us had paid for our meals. So I raced out and said thank you and why. His reply was that it was only $50 and he would have paid 10 times that amount because of our kindness. And it was only that I conversed with them. People of colour are often ignored or looked right through, even here in NZ - a horrid and racist practice.
• I noticed that the man had a pea'a (I think I've spelled that right - the full tattoo that a Samoan man gets when he becomes an adult. It extends from below the knees to the above the waist and I understand - without having seen it, mind you - that it includes the testicles - ouch!) So I asked who did it, and it turns out that he knows our Joe who lived with us back in Cherswud and is a stretcher for one of the two tattoo families here in the Wellington region.
• David and I had another hug with the man, and walked back to our car in tears, and promptly rang Joe.
• What a lovely birthday present!
• On December 11th our friend Julia arrived from the UK - regular readers may remember Julia as she and her husband Mick were long-time boating friends. Mick died nearly 3 years ago, and in about August this year we were really surprised when Julia agreed in a phone call that she should come to NZ for a holiday.
• I think a big drawcard was Xmas in the summer with no presents
• She travelled business class and has taken to it like a duck to water!
• On December 13th (a Friday, of course) we celebrated being married for 50 years. We had a lovely pot luck late lunch party and it was wonderful to have friends old and new with us on a warm but overcast day - the best kind because no one got sunburnt. 
• On Dec 15th we headed away for a trip north, having picked up a rental station wagon with totally fold down seats for Julia so she could sleep in the back. We provided 4 layers of foam topper pad and a wool duvet as a mattress - think Princess and the pea - and the requisite bedding. David and I had the motorhome and off we went.
  
• We made our way to Ngongotaha just north of Rotorua, with stops for a night at Turangi NZMCA park, then at Orakei Korako.
• I took great delight in stopping at the rest area at the top of the Desert Road to tell Julia that we were standing in a spot that is higher than any point in the UK ... And by the way, there's the mountains 👏😆😍
• We had a lovely trip on The Lady of the Lake launch below the Huka Falls and all the way up close to them - not as dramatic as the Huka Jet, but we had a fair amount of time circling around getting closer and closer to the falls. It was pretty spectacular. 
• Then a quick walk down to be in time to see the dam opening at Aratiatia Rapids - bloody hell, the amount of water released into the canyon is amazing to watch - another spectacular sight as the empty canyon fills rapidly.
• We got to Orakei Korako mid afternoon and just blobbed - you can park up overnight for free. It was so peaceful. And Julia loved it because it had toilets she could use without coming into our motorhome.
• In the morning, Julia and I had coffee at the cafe and then we all did the trip across the river to the thermal area, and walked the whole thing. It is rather amazing and so very well pathed and signposted. Definitely our favourite thermal area and the one we recommend.
• Then it was on to Ngongotaha NZMCA where Julia and I stayed. We dropped David at the bus station in Rotorua and he travelled up to stay overnight with Barry and Pauline in Papamoa and then into Tauranga the next day to visit Gordon his old boss. He came back the next day on the bus and we made him catch a local bus back to Ngongotaha - Julia is the bus guru, and even though she was on foreign territory, she was confident that the app gave him excellent information. The boffin wasn't so convinced but when I shouted over the phone, he succumbed. Getting into Rotorua in rush hour traffic would have been nightmarish - far better for him to trust us... And the bus dropped him exactly where we said it would, and Julia had gone over to meet it and lead him back to our campsite. She is a champion.
• While he was away, Julia and I did a drive out to Lake Tikitapu (Blue Lake) and did the walk around it - it was lovely and peaceful - lapping water, birds, breeze in the trees, no traffic. We met some U3A people coming towards us, and as Julia is involved in lots of U3A activities in the UK, of course they all had a long chat.
• Lovely breakfast at a cafe David and I'd found on a previous trip, Cafe Dynasti - great food. We had nibbles for dinner while binge watching Ted Lasso.
• When we had David back, we headed over towards Waitomo. We'd intended for David and Julia to do a cave trip (I don't do undergraound), but when we stopped at some point on the way to ask Julia a question, I checked the opening times and found it was about $165 per person for a two cave trip - I've just looked at the website and I reckon off season is significantly cheaper, dammit! So we decided we would rather head to Tongaporutu and have an extra night there for free - and because it's my favourite place...
• I think we stopped to top up with groceries at Te Kuiti, and then Tongaporutu here we come! 
• I've posted lots of photos of Tongaporutu before so all readers know how obsessed I am... JUlia loved it too - the beach, the mud, the walk along the river where we stopped to catch up with Gordon and Lee and then called in on James and Joan and showed Julia our two former baches.
• Then after 2 nights we headed to Waitara to the holiday park that my sister and her son and daughter in law run. Such a lot of fun. And Julia was instantly accepted into the family - for Dee and I she became our tall sister. Although Julia did wind Dee up and so got lots of candy canes thrown at her. What started it was that she kept stepping into and out of the office to make the buzzer go on and off ...
• And home for Christmas with Bruce and Gary and friends. Julia and I made a mushroom galette (yummy) with mushroom sauce (yummy) and individual nutroasts (also yummy). We probably made something for dessert, but I can't remember - whatever it was it all caused me to gain lots of weight. I blame Julia.