Back from the wilds of Taranaki and Harvey Ville (see above picture for the inhabitants, Jo, Thomas and Steve with Greystone Waldo looking on) it was time for Queensland's premier BBQ cook, alias Carlos, to get Mum (Her Majesty) into the swing of things!
The "tui house' withstood the hungry glances of Jesse and Tim (Yeah Right!) only to be dismembered after the boys left for Brisbane. New Year's Eve was spent playing Kiwi Monopoly right past midnight. Fortunes were gained and lost with some major gamboling (Sadie lost bigtime, throwing caution to the winds) taking place intstead of the normal conservative gambling. It was also good practice for those from Oz to hone their linguistic skills for Kiwi place names.
The following day to New Year's Day all took off for Wellington some by train and some by car with all the luggage to get the Queenslanders back to Oz. A happy time at Te Papa then into the Airport motel for the night for the Ockers. A 4.30am reporting time at the airport for the following morning. Sadie and Her Majesty returned to Greystone (Boy! Was it quiet!) leaving the party at Te Papa.
It was a great family Christmas/New Year and a wonderful to have Tanja, Jesse and Tim for their first visit to Greystone.
A highlight for Isaac was for him to be photographed by his Farfar outside Isaac's maternal, paternal, great, great grandparents' home on Humphries Street, Greytown.
Picasso continues to snore peacefully under the outer reaches of the fig tree however, keeping a watchful eye out for younger visitors.
