Jenny, my lovely friend from down the road, picked us up in their rusty old ute. It is literally falling apart, and every now and again the door opens all by itself as you're going along, which can be quite funny. C and her daughter Mere sat outside on the back - something that would be illegal in New Zealand - chatting animatedly, the wind in their hair.
We stopped at Wigmore’s, the small grocery shop not far from us, to pick up some supplies for dinner. The cashier was totalling up our stuff when a voice from behind in the queue said, “Don’t get bananas, we’ve got those.” It was our neighbour, Tere. So I got the cashier to take those off. Then Tere saw the butternut gourds I was buying.
“Oh, don’t buy those either, come up to the house later.” Typical island generosity. I figured the longer I stayed in the queue the less I would have to buy! That was Thursday; by Saturday we’d also been given guavas, starfruit, mangoes, sugar cane and bread, and we’d found some limes and avocadoes growing by the side of the road. It probably sounds like I go on a bit about food – but when groceries are as expensive as they are here, any gift or road-kill is exciting!
On Saturday night we were invited for a welcome home/thank you dinner at Jenny and Pittman’s – the thank you because we loaned them the scooter and pushbike while we were away. Their house is as small as ours so we sat on the floor to eat our fish and chips and salad. The fish came from their fish farm, and it was all cooked in their new deep-fryer, which we were able to get for them while we were in New Zealand. The results from its debut performance were superb! Deep frying is not exactly the trendiest or healthiest method of cooking, but it's a delicious way to eat the island root veges – taro, cassava, kumara and so on.
Sunday afternoon they rang up to say they were bringing over some fish for us. I started to say that I already had dinner organised so I’d put it in the fridge for the next night, when Jenny said, “No, not for eating, as PETS!” Yep, the Paterson menagerie has expanded. We have been joined by about a dozen tilapia. Freshwater fish, they are currently residing in a tank by the front door... and will end up either on our dinner plates or as cat-food. Or dead. It's a bit of an experiment.
Jasper thinks they are great entertainment. He as not yet fallen in, but it won’t be long. C is munching on some sugar cane in the photo, a favourite snack. Apparently in the old days on the island, people used to clean their teeth with sugar cane. Surprisingly, it did a good job!Next weekend there is a combined church service at the island’s auditorium to give thanks for a safe cyclone season. At the start of the season, in November, the government calls a church service to pray for safety. Now, at the end of March, it’s time for thanksgiving. Everything here – and I mean everything – opens and closes with prayer, whether it’s a school meeting, a rugby game, or a political meeting.
It was a very hot and humid day when we arrived back – at 4:30pm it was 32 degrees and coming off the plane was like walking into a thick wet wall. But since then it has been noticeably cooler and less humid, and I used a cotton blanket last night for the first time in about six months. It was feeling a bit chilly this afternoon and I put on a sweatshirt. I then checked online and saw the temperature was 25 degrees still! We have definitely acclimatised! At any rate it is lovely to be not sweating!
Took this photo yesterday over the road from our house. I still don't seem to be able to capture how vivid the colours are here... it is just so beautiful. Good to be back "on the rock," as they say.
To close, a brief update on our trip: we were in New Zealand for about two and a half weeks - mainly for my brother Phil's wedding, to his beautiful wife, Clare. The wedding was in the Marlborough Sounds (at the top of the South Island), at Fernaux Lodge, which is accessible only by boat. It poured with rain on the day but the 100-plus-year-old homestead made a gorgeously cosy setting. The bride, of course, looked fabulous - Clare is lovely and we are so pleased to welcome her officially into the family. And we are very much looking forward to the birth of their baby daughter in about three months. I'm to be a real Aunty at last! C did a reading at the wedding and did very well, I was a proud Mum.
Back onto the North Island, we travelled up to Tauranga, where C had another operation at Tauranga Hospital - this time to remove the plate and screws from her arm. All went well. (She has had a splint on it for the last 10 days, as you can see in the fish photo, but that comes off today and we will get Jenny, who is a nurse, to check the stitches.)
Other than that, I had a long list of things to do, from buying some underwear and some decent peanut butter to re-organising the mortgage, visiting our tenant, and catching up with a few friends. Apologies to the many people we did not get to see - it was a whirlwind of a trip. I needed to come back to the island to recover!
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