Happy New Year and looking back

Wishing all our friends, readers and fellow bloggers a Happy New Year!

We spent a very wet New Years Eve celebration our nephew Shane turning 60 at his home in in Te Awamutu. .  It is a tradition in this family to prepare and cook a hangi for special occasions, and this Shane did with a little help.  Not a “hole in the ground” traditional hangi, but rather one cooked in a stainless steel container, heated with gas, but still using the wet sacks as usual.

Cooked food is under the sacking

The birthday dinner was served, chicken, pork, lamb, potatoes, pumpkin and kumara from the hangi, with salads and bread rolls.  Very nice indeed.  Shane really wanted a birthday cake with 60 candles, which would take a bit of lighting them all.  So out came the trusty blowtorch, which soon got the job done.  Perhaps not really recommended though, there was concern that all those 60 wax candles would be melting into the top of the cake.

Let’s get those candles lit!

Shane is the eldest grandchild on the maternal side, the first child of my late sister Kathleen and hubby Dennis.  It was a lovely evening, catching up with Shane’s friends and close family.

Robin, Jenny, Shane and Kirstie

Looking back on the last year 2023 we had quite a few adventures.  We spent 10 weeks in the beginning of the year traveling around the South Island.  In fact this time last year we spent New Year’s Eve 2023 at Star Tavern, Cape Foulwind, with fellow bloggers Irene and Ian  who write Free Spirit blog..

New Years Eve 2023 with Irene and Ian

We had a marvellous trip, exploring new places, revisiting old favourites, catching up with family and friends.  We got caught up with the Cook Strait ferry cancelation problems on both our trips there and back, these problems seemed to go on and on for months and put the holiday plans of so many people into disarray.  Transport of freight between the two islands was quite disrupted too.

Returning home in early March, we got back into the swing of things with attending caravan rallies with our club, Heretaunga, and also met up with the ICA group for two rallies.  We also enjoyed attending meetings with the Probus Club, and lunches out with our Super Leisure Group friends.  Robin continued with his Menz Shed days and driving the Health Shuttle.

A family highlight was the wedding of Robin’s niece Hannah to David in March, and all meeting up again the following day for a casual lunch, with a host of wonderful crayfish supplied by the brides father.  Honestly, I thought I was in heaven, even more so when I was encouraged to take some of this delicacy home with me!

 

Robin’s second knee replacement in August kept us close to home and away from caravanning for a couple of months as he slowly recovered and got on with his rehab.  Luckily he was able to drive and tow the caravan again in time for our 40th Wedding Anniversary trip to Rotorua in November.  Highlights of this trip was High Tea at a posh hotel, a marvellous anniversary dinner at the restaurant at the top of the cable car and the Redwoods Tree Walk.

High Tea for two

All in all it’s been a good year.  Robin has recovered well from both his knee replacement operations, and the pair of us are doing well, with just a few minor niggles, not unexpected as we are all getting older.  We are looking forward to more fun and adventures in 2024.