An evening out

An evening out, but still back at our motel by 8 pm.  Country living, I guess.   First we went to a bar, a wine for me and a ginger beer for Walter, the only non alcoholic beer available.  Non alcohol beer appears to be non existent in New Zealand.  Furrowed brows and puzzled looks have been the responses that Walter has received so far. For me, there is plenty of choice in the red wine department.

Then off to a restaurant, which was once the post office. It was there Walter found that non alcoholic beer is beer classed as low alcohol less than 0.5% alcohol.  Semantics I guess.  Now he is a very happy man.   And I am still a very happy woman with lots of lovely good red wine available.

The food is very good, but always comes in huge quantities.  Big eaters here I think.  Tonight Walter ordered his favourite, a hamburger, a double one at that.  I ordered fish, grilled as I need to watch the waistline.  The fish was Hoki, which we quickly looked up on the internet to make sure it was not some dodgy import, and thank goodness it was an Australasian cold water fish. Quite a coarse fish though but very tasty. A large fresh and varied salad accompanied my fish, plus chips of course.  

Walter looking very happy with his double hamburger.

We walked home, in the fresh moutain air.  The birds were still twittering, and the sun was setting behind the moutains.  Very beautiful.

 Another photograph of a flowering cherry tree.  They are in abundance here.

It is very strange being back in the country of my birth.  I have not really lost my NZ accent, but at the monent I am having trouble understanding what people are saying unless they are looking at me.  The intonations and syllable separations (forgot what the correct term is) are so different.

We have also talked to quite a few people who ask where we are from.  New Zealanders are extremely friendly, and they always greet each other, even when getting in and out of the pool. So to be asked where you are from, is not an unusual request here.  But we do not know how to answer this question.  Technically we have come directly from the UK, but how does one then give a short answer to the long explanation of our complicated past.

We are loving it all though, even though we have only been here one and a half days.  It is great to be back.

I will be supporting the All Blacks at their next game, early on Sunday morning NZ time.  4 am!  Even the pubs are open too.

At heart, always a kiwi.