Mother’s Day in the Antipodes

It’s Mother’s Day today down here in the Antipodes.  The roads were busy, with cars going every which way, to visit or collect their respective Mums.  We headed south down the highway to Waikanae.  Once there, we had a cunning plan.  We called into our cafe of choice to check out the availability of a table for lunch.  Then Robin left me there in charge of said table while he went to collect his almost 90 year old Mum. 

The idea was that I would enjoy a hot drink while I waited for the guest of honour to arrive, but I hit a snag.  Seems that in this cafe one does not usually place orders at the counter, the staff prefer to come to the table to take the orders.  I explained that I was waiting for other guests, and could I please have a drink now, before they arrived.  That seemed almost too hard for the staff to cope with, and after paying for my drink, I waited, and waited, and waited some more, sitting alone at the table feeling  rather like “Nigel No Mates”.  A passing waitress took pity on me and asked if I was being looked after, then hurried away to chase up my drink order.  At last my drink finally arrived – then Robin and his Mum walked slowly into the cafe.

Bonnie and Robin

After opening her gift, we then all got on with the serious business of studying the menu. Whitebait and Bluff oysters sounded great – but so were the prices for these delicacies, so we sadly passed them by.  I was interested in watching the waiting staff deliver plates of food to the adjacent tables, to check out the other offerings on the menu.  Our choices were finally made, and we sat back and waited expectantly for our lunch to arrive.  And we weren’t disappointed.  We tucked into an omelette filled with smoked chicken for Bonnie, Eggs Benedict with  Marlborough salmon for me, and burger and chips for Robin.

Our tasty lunches

Melt Cafe was kept busy as the many groups with their Mums in tow arrived for their celebratory lunches.  Bottles of wine arrived at the various tables, the waiting staff deftly delivered plates of food, then coffees, and gifts were given to some lucky Mums. The cafe was a very busy place indeed, doing a roaring business on this special day.

 

Later in the afternoon on our drive back home we stopped off at Koro Ice in Otaki for another treat.  This company makes their own delicious ice-cream, and also sells real fruit ice-cream.  We purchased a blackberry ice-cream for Robin, and a feijoa and crystallised ginger combination for me.  “Ugg”, said Robin, turning his nose up at my choice, “how can you eat something like that?”.  “Just watch me”, I replied.

Ready to enjoy my feijoa and ginger ice-cream

Happy Mother’s Day to all Mums everywhere – although we realise that this special day is celebrated in other countries at different times to ours down here in New Zealand.