I still haven't got back into blog routine. It's already over a month since my last post. When everyday life is rich and full, it is difficult to sit down and write about it. Yet the discipline of finding time to write each day is valuable for me and so I want to maintain the blog. Right now I am watching four new grey patrol boats recently arrived in Malta from Australia to join the border protection programme. They shot out of Marsamxetto in a straight line, made a large circle and now they're heading back in.
In this post I'll sketch out the start of my trip back to Malta in November last year. The photo that heads the post shows camembert taken out of the brine and standing for 24 hours before going into the cool cabinet. We made them in a cheese-making workshop run by my cousin Vicky. My red-headed cousins live on the east coast of the south island of New Zealand and I called in to see them when I found that my plane trip to Cuba stopped over in Auckland. It was easy to arrange a flight from there to Christchurch and a flight back via Wellington so I could also visit my dark-haired, slightly greying cousin, John. There are cheap internal NZ flights available online that Vicky put me on to. At first I had considered taking the train journey from Auckland down to Wellington, across on the ferry and then along the coast to Christchurch. I had enjoyed that trip once before, but discovered that it no longer ran and would have taken too long anyway.
Vicky and one of her daughters drove up from Oamarau to meet me at Christchurch. The trip takes several hours so it was a long day for them and I was very grateful not to have to worry about finding somewhere to stay in Christchurch and then catching the bus. Vicky offers her house as a B & B called the Red Shed and it's a great place to visit. All her family have thrived in the New Zealand culture where craft and bush skills are valued. There is always an atmosphere of support at Vicky's for the various creative projects and adventurous endeavours that everyone gets into. Whilst I was there we made brie and camembert, tried our hand at decoupage on large objects like tables and chairs and learnt how to make giant twig balls. I also watched Vicky's son as he put his young dog through its training for hunting and tracking. We had a potluck supper where everyone brought a dish not only cooked themselves but also grown or caught themselves. We had delicious white bait fritters made from fish caught in the local river and eggs laid by home chickens, all kinds of home-grown vegetables in salads and pies and baked, and delicious chutneys and cheeses. I was only there for two full days and I felt I had become part of a happy, creative community. I am so glad that I can use electronic media now to keep in touch with all the exciting things that continue to happen in their part of the world.
On my way back to Auckland, I stayed overnight in Wellington, that lovely city on the South coast of the North Island on the channel between the two halves of New Zealand. My cousin John and his wife welcomed me into their busy lives as academics and community figures and at the University I was helped to track down some more information about my mother's side of the family who had gone to New Zealand some generations before my mother was born in Malta.
In my next post, I'll get on to our great trip to sing at the International Choral Festival in Cuba.
