Monday, 21 April 2014

Nau mai, haere mai...

Nau mai, haere mai - 'Welcome!'  At least, broadly speaking that's what it means.

It's one of the things we find ourselves saying quite a lot in the summer season out here - Dec/Jan/Feb.  A surprising number of people seem to find the prospect of a sunny, beautiful country 12000 miles away curiously alluring during the UK winter months.

We have hosted various overseas guests in our time here, several of them family of course.  But friends from different parts of our lives have also made the long journey, usually as part of a lifetime wish to explore New Zealand, and they often drop in to say 'hi'.  Some stay a night, or two (or more), en route.  Each brings a flavour of the UK into our St Heliers home.

This year we seem to have had more visitors than usual.  So I thought I'd make a quick photographic record of those who just called in, or who stayed ...

First came Cindy.  We may not have had any offspring with us this Christmas, but Cindy once more braved the journey and joined us for the festive season.  She has found a brilliant one-roomed apartment nearby, in easy walking distance, so we can see each other every day but retain a measure of independence:




Then it was Julia and Graham Williams, friends and neighbours from Tolleshunt D'Arcy, who spent a couple of nights with us during their second visit to NZ; this time round their son Duncan is living and practising as a vet down near Christchurch, in South Island:




The record wouldn't be complete without including Philippa, who joined us for nearly 3 weeks in January:


[We were up One Tree Hill; that's Rangitoto in the distance]

During the time she was here, we had our now (3rd) annual 'social' with Colin and Val Ferbrache, fab naval friends from way back (Colin was one of our ushers), whose son also lives and works here with his wife and 2 children, thus ensuring (we hope) that we shall see Colin and Val out here again next year!


Our next visitors were in Auckland for just one evening.  Lynne Clemence (an old university friend of mine) and her husband Gerald, jumped into a taxi and made their way to St Heliers in time for a quick hike up to Achilles Point, followed by supper at Moretons:

[Lynne and me posing in front of the po at Achilles Point]

And then it was my birthday.  Birthdays are always special, and as many of you know mine falls on Valentine's Day every year, so it's doubly so.  But this one will always stick in my memory because we were joined by 3 wonderful old friends, also from naval days.  Andy and Kate Du Port were finally getting to tour NZ after their previous trip had had to be cancelled 2 years ago, and were booked in to spend 4 nights with us.  Then we discovered that Charles Montgomery, husband of one of my dearest friends, Adrienne, just happened to be in NZ on UK Border Agency business! Happily for us he managed to carve out 3 hours in Auckland before his flight home.  We hiked up to Achilles Point (again), before drinking bubbles and eating olives on our balcony:

[Charles and me, at Achilles Point; that's 'my' island (Motukorea) in the distance]

[Kate and Andy and some bubbles at 2/42 Goldie St]

As the Du Ports drove off for the next part of their adventure, American Julie flew in, complete with mother and mother's 2 oldest friends, all of them approaching their 80th birthdays.  Though Julie didn't stay with us this time, given her full-time role as chaperone to the group we affectionately named her 'whanau' (pronounced 'far-no', meaning 'family'), we succeeded in having fun together on a couple of the days they were all in Auckland:


[Julie, always in search of a decent wool shop]

And then, when it seemed that that would be it on the visitor-front, my former vicar from Tollesbury, Keith Lovell, and his wife Pauline, landed in Auckland at the beginning of their trip-of-a-lifetime.  Having picked up their enormous campervan from the airport, they spent their first 24 hours with us in St Heliers to recover from the long flight:




Just as well we are now in a visitor lull.  The spare bed is currently covered in wedding hat/hatbox/clothing and sundry other items shortly to be packed into various pieces of luggage for my trip home TODAY!

See you on the other side.............  :-) 


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