Greystone welcomes Michael from Huldenberg

Its been a busy visiting schedule for Greystone this summer. Michael arrived Wellington airport after a very comfortable flight from Brussels via Heathrow and Hong Kong on 13 March. The White Swan beckoned for drinkies with the in-laws and friends whilst Sue was working hard in Oman. Picasso and Mike remembered one another - well at least Mike did. A good meal at Greystone, a good sleep after all those miles and Mike was off to Taranaki to see his folks.

Herbie the beamer was beaming and impatiently growling when they left the next day. "Let me at that Manawatu Gorge and I want to see Mt Taranaki again," he was muttering. Mike and Herbie return on 26 March for the return to Bruxelles 27 March. Mike's luggage caught up with him in Taranaki - it got lost on arrival at Heathrow on the way out.

Greystone welcomes the Martins

Kris and Greg spent the bulk of February in New Zealand visiting Greystone and relatives and friends in many other places. Herbie the beamer was kindly lent by Mike and Sue, the other Belgian based Kiwi people. K & G's itinerary was chock full and they finally left after bubbles in downtown Wellington to hasten back to the remnants (hopefully) of the European winter.

Highlights of their trip to Greystone were: taking in the Martinborough fair, riding the Rimutaka incline and fine dining at the White Swan. It was great to catch up and many good evenings were had assisted by attacks on the wine cellar and on one truly memorable occasion savouring Greg's barbecuing. Temperatures were in the low 30's and much persperation resulted. Great company for Evan and Sally and great memories to add to the already bulging store.

PS An excellent day and night by all accounts was had with the McCraws of Port Campbell, Victoria on their way to NZ.

Note: This replaces the earlier blog of 24 Feb 09 which was lost in the internet ether, somewhere between here and there!

A Happy Birthday!

A very happy birthday was had by Evan (alias Sadie, Dad, Farfar, Morfar and a number of others) on 29 January 2009. Sammo and Picasso were on hand to help the celebrations. Sammo and the birthday boy went down to the stonegrill at the White Swan two days before the actual date just to get in the swing of things. Picasso (16 years old now!) allowed a very special cuddle from the birthday boy leaving his summer spot under the kapuka and fig trees.

The Gold Card arrived and it works - no charge to get into Wellington on the train and no charge on the buses - for off peak periods only. You get a free flu shot too when you are 65 or over.

Note: This message and phot replaces the original placed by Sammo - it disappeared into the blog ether.

All messages of congratulations are welcome.