Toni and I are enjoying our well deserved holiday in Hokitika in the South Island with Toni's Grandad Bill. We had a good farewell with people from both workplaces hitting the Gisborne night circuit... very blurred memory of a great night... nurses and greenhouse workers make an entertaining mix! I was given a New Zealand Rugby World Cup cap signed by my mates (Not the All Blacks!) as a leaving pressie.
Our trip down South consisted of three flights and record amounts of tea drinking, safely arriving in Hokitika on Sunday. We have done quite a bit of 'Tiki touring' this week, revisiting places we discovered earlier in the year. We went to Pancake Rocks (Punakaikai) and Lake Kaniere at the start of the week, and just had to have a guided tour around Monteith's Brewery in Greymouth. This is home to one of Toni's fave beers, their Summer Ale - the best part of the tour was of course the tasting at the end, where we got to try each beer - and then had an open bar for FIFTEEN MINUTES!! Well, as you can imagine Toni got her money's worth and I might have sampled a couple... we spent a few hours wandering around the town centre before setting off home - we only went in at midday.
I have just tried a homemade whitebait fritter, which is a real delicacy in this part of the World. Whitebait (Inanga) are baby fish caught in nets at rivermouths. The fritter is made up of lots of whole tiny fish, head and all mixed with a crispy batter. I don't eat fish as a rule, but this was something I had to try - it's a primo piece of Kiwiana don't you know! Once I got past the fact that the fish were looking back at me, it was pretty good kai (food). Our pukus (bellies) are full!
Just a few days left to explore before we get back to Gisborne to pack and wind everything up before our trip home.
