New Zealand 2011 - mostly food

In the run up to our journey to NZ, Christchurch had a real blast of winter. Indeed, the Thursday we flew out of the UK (off to sunny 30 degrees in Los Angeles), Neil's mum was only just getting dug out of the snow drifts at her home.

Southern hemisphere you see --- their winter. So we could have been really caught out - stuck and unable to reach the family.

As it was, it perfect timing, the sun came out. This meant there was snow on the mountains still, but our level was just beautiful.


One thing that I do indulge in over in NZ is coffee: I don't drink much coffee here (I'm a tea-belly if anything) but they do make a real effort with the presentation of coffee in New Zealand. Witness this cappuccino from Seagars in Oxford, NZ.


Indeed, food standards generally are pretty hot in NZ: see these lovely desserts, also from Seagars. (Apart from the fruit I swear everything was made with maximum attention to calories...)


We also had some spiffy food at Route 72 and at Pukeko Junction, near Amberley and Leithfield, NZ.


(Sorry about the lighting but the Pukeko salad and frittata was too lovely to not photograph - even if the lighting came out weird).