Been South Africans, having Christmas in New Zealand was like having an adventure! We didn’t know what to expect next, so we just went with what was planned for us.

 

Before Christmas:

We were invited a traditional New Zealand Christmas at friends of the family place. These lovely people owned a B&B in Hawera, south of Taranaki Mount, North island. 

We were invited to their private quarters. They laid out a fantastic meal. It consisted of many different dishes, including a large meringue pie with fruit and cream on top. In Maori style it is a very sweet dish. So I felt I had to try it out, it been a traditional New Zealand Christmas dish. Can you believe it? I had two servings and to hang with the extra calories!  

Also in Palmerston North, there is a house with lots of Christmas décor, so much so, that it’s well known throughout that town and many people come to visit it over the Christmas season. Here are some night photos of that house and its garden:

We spent Christmas Eve and day at our grandsons’ house, in Palmerston North. 

Because there was so many of us, some folks slept in the in the lounge, where also stood a huge glittering Christmas tree. By morning, it was a big surprise to see so many exciting promising and enormous presents surrounding the Christmas tree! 

As we gathered together in the morning, in the lounge, we were each given a warm red Father Christmas hat with white pompoms. With some of us still looking half asleep, in night attire and with our Christmas hats on, the Christmas hats did caused some back and forth ribbing (teasing). This set a lovely jolly atmosphere, while we opened our presents and for the rest of the day. 

The morning started out with a huge full breakfast braai out on the porch. A breakfast fit for a King and a queen too! There was every kind of egg, bacon, sausage, hash, etc you could think of on our plates. Not to mean what you could have to drink. 

And we were still out on the porch enjoying a fantastic Christmas lunch, before setting out about three thirty in the afternoon, to take a trip, in separate cars, to Palmerston North’s reserve. 

The Aokautere Reserve:

The reserve is south-east of Palmerston North, and has bicycle trails, besides beautiful walking trails. 

 

The Manawatu River is very wide and covered mostly in pebbles and small rocks. The river itself is a lovely spot to explore. Just have the right shoes or takkies to walk over the interminable pebbles.

 

If you look at the photos, I think the river scene would make a lovely oil painting in oils. Can you imagination how a man fly fishing there with is fishing line flung wide and around above his head would look! 

In one of the collages above (top right hand side, out of four) you will see an oil painting I did (sorry it’s sold now) of the entering pathway into the reserve. In the background of the oil painting, there looks like a blurred hazy gargantuan mountain. It’s not a mountain. It’s actually a dark threatening cloud. You can see in the other photos the clouds forming and that a storm is brewing.

A few days after New Year:

We had another Christmas dinner, with other friends of our children. We couldn’t visit with them over Christmas time because they were away on holiday. But they still wanted to give us a New Zealand Christmas. 

Gosh, now that was some Maori meal, round a very large square table in a wide spacious room, comprising of a lounge, dining room and kitchen. 

They also had other long-standing friends there, so it was very jolly affair. And everyone got Christmas gifts, including my husband and myself! I can tell you, everyone in New Zealand is so very friendly and kind.