Beer, Burgers, Friends & a Celebration

Saturday 3rd March saw us finally throwing an engagement party. Some may say that it was just an excuse to invite some friends around and have a good time, but what's wrong with that?

It was a beautiful warm, sunny day so the afternoon was spent preparing food, putting up decorations and sipping Pimms. For once, there was no need to erect a gazebo and spend another barbecue huddled under it. It seemed that we had to do that at every summer barbie we held in Redbridge. A brave, and is it turned, out correct decision.

The plan was to feed our guests with delicacies from the barbecue. Unfortunately, the chef kept getting distracted from his duties as he kept chatting to friends. It may also have had something to do with the large brown bottle in his hand. I do not think our guests were that bothered about the meat being served rather late, or if they did they did not say anything!

We were spoiled that evening. Some people turned up with pressies; not what we expected at all, as we specifically told people not to. Anyway, the gifts were all great, and will be much used (especially our picnic rucksack).

As normal, after a party, lots of food was leftover. As we had indulged enough the day before (and Pete’s hangover did not let him eat at all) we invited Nicola and Carl over for, to help us eat our way through the leftovers. They are friends of Helen and were on their last day of visiting NZ before flying back to Sydney, to continue their Working Holiday on the 'Western Isle'. They came armed with a lovely bottle of Moet & Chandon and a punnet of strawberries. The kind of food a backpacker travels with, not! Considering we had not met before, we hit it off, exchanging travel stories, etc. As they missed Helen by just one day (she only flew in on the following Tuesday) and because both Nicola & Carl loved NZ, they hope to be back in July, to try their hand on some Down Under skiing.

The next big weekend will be the Wild Foods Festival at Hokitika, straight after Pete gets back form school camp. Stay tuned for that next post.