A Kiwi Christmas

Saturday, Dec 24--Merry Christmas! I finally arrived in my 'real' destination, New Zealand, midday and took a combination of airport shuttle and cab out to the village/suburb of Devonport, across the harbour from Auckland. Wendy Wilson's sister Deborah Reimink and her husband Henke greeted me most warmly, and I had a lovely supper with them and Wendy's other sister and brother-in-law, Linda and Robert Burgess. I was made to feel instantly at home.

After dinner, we headed a few kilometres north to the home of Sue Emmott and Michael Bowman, where we will be house-sitting for just over a week. Sue works for the U.N. and therefore travels a great deal, and this beautiful house is a showcase for the unique furniture, textiles, photos and objects they have collected from around the world. It looks like something out of an exclusive design magazine!! At first I was a bit afraid to touch anything, but I have become more relaxed as the days go by and am thoroughly enjoying my time in this little slice of design heaven. My biggest responsibility is feeding the several dozen multicoloured koi/ goldfish in the small pond once a day--tough job! We were very fortunate indeed to have this house offered to us for our stay in Auckland.

The next day was, of course, Christmas, but at about 26 degrees and sunny, it felt NOTHING like Christmas to me--a relief, as I thought I might be terribly homesick. I had a wonderful day at the Reimink's again, including the best roast lamb dinner I've ever eaten, and a leisurely walk along Cheltenham Beach, only a 10-minute walk from their house. As their children are all overseas, they also wanted to forget it was Christmas, so almost no mention was made of it except during our phone call with Wendy in Canada--Merry Christmas, Wendy and Ron, and thanks for lending me your family!

Next day, Dec 26th for me, but Christmas for all of you back in Canada. Overseas phone lines were hard to come by, but I did manage to get through twice, once to Lakeside and once to Vermont. Hope the rest of you had a wonderful day.

Here are some shots of my current abode (had to show you this bathroom, which includes a new steam shower--isn't it so Martha??) and my new Auckland 'family' (thats Linda on the left and Deb on the right--don't they look like Wendy?).