Last night in NZ

Tonight's my last night in NZ for a while. As I sit and reflect on this I know that I will miss my family, my friends, my peaceful and productive garden. I know that I will miss eating out with my loved ones, as I did tonight and this morning.

This morning we had brunch with friends, a restful occasion where we could sit and commune and peacefully enjoy each others company, an ideal Sunday brunch. I have lived in Christchurch for over 10 years but hadn't ever dined at the Sign of the Takahe, hadn't visited the castle like building that is such a landmark in our area. I have walked and ridden my bike past it many times, just not stopped by to visit. Before today that is, you guessed it, I left my trusty camera at home. It was a place waiting to be photographed and my camera was packed. Will take care of that next time I'm home.

Tonight we went to Lyttelton for dinner, to Freemans. Freemans is the best restaurant around. They serve exquisite food, Italian slow food style, along with a scrumptious Pino Gregio all the way from Italy. The scallops on a bed of risotto were divine; the deep fried prawns delish; the cannelloni scrummy; the salmon and mussels amazing. But the best were the courgette fries, thin slices of courgette fried and crisp and lightly salted. And did I mention the olives, warmed and marinated? One to share was not enough.

OK so I love good food, add to that excellent company and friendly service, a great evening out. We have been to Freemans before, accidentally. We didn't know at the time that they were booked solid weeks in advance, we walked up and got a table late one evening. The food then was also divine.

So tonight's my last night, one more sleep to go and I'm on the plane to Brissy. I can't wait to see Kez and Sasi, to get some Aussie family time. It's Australia day tomorrow so I can enjoy having good time with the kids. I hope to be able to write a post or two, with photos, from Aus but if not, I might be silent for a while.

I hear that Al Ain is not right up there when it comes to Internet coverage. I may have to wait a while to get connected at my flat, may have time without contact, not ideal for me. I've had the heads up that Skype is not able to be downloaded so have a copy on my external drive. I do hope to get that sorted quickly as I am not sure how I'd cope without the net, here's hoping!

The upshot is that my blog might be a bit quiet for a time, I hope a very short time.