More New Zealand Photos

Kiwis love to grill.  Wayne and Lisa invited some friends and neighbors over for dinner on Christmas Eve.  Wayne bought a 50lb (est.) bag of large green lip mussels and was grilling them, along with steaks, chicken and other delicious stuff.  I love grilled mussels.

What a surprise - the ladies are working in the kitchen!

After opening Christmas presents we headed down the driveway to the neighbors for brunch.

This is a view of the house/farm where I stayed, from the neighbor's house where we had brunch.  Beautiful!

Just one of the platters of pastries.  I made a pig of myself, using the excuse that I hadn't seen treats like this for more than a year.  Lisa was nice enough to give me a package of goodies when I left.  We also had more mussels at brunch, along with some great conversation.  This is an annual event where all the neighbors get together.  Wonderful, wonderful people.

The Christmas that I was five, my parents gave me 2 books.  One, a kids cookbook.  The other about a little girl whose next door neighbor who milked cows.  I've always wanted to milk a cow and after brunch Wayne offered to let me help him with the afternoon milking.  I was grateful that he let me borrow his coveralls since I had no idea that milking cows involves a lot of poop!

Wayne milks almost 400 cows, twice a day.  He can do 80 at a time.  Next time you buy milk, be grateful to the hardworking dairy farmer!

Notice anything different about this "cow"?  I learned to be careful what I grabbed, since sometimes the bulls follow the cows into the milking shed.

Sunset, Christmas Day at the Bate's farm in Tokeroa.  Photos can't do it justice.

The family that hosted the brunch came over for Christmas dinner in the evening that ended with a variety of desserts, including these classic Pavlovas.  Meringue, whipped cream and fresh berries.  Delicious.