Happy Kiwi Christmas!

Christina, Abi, and me at Huka Falls, Chrsitmas Day. To see more pictures from the day, click here

I had an absolutely lovely Christmas day. I arrived in Taupo on Christmas Eve and was told that there would be a potluck dinner the next day. I hurried to the Pak n’ Save (a New Zealand grocery store not unlike Meijer, but yellow and black instead of red and blue, not to mention somehow more dismal…and you thought it was impossible to top the dismalness of Meijer, hah!) and got some grocery to stock up for Christmas and Boxing Days, which both close down a lot of NZ civilization. I was all excited because I decided I’d make a red and green Christmas fruit salad, complete with pomegranate seeds! I got strawberries, kiwifruit (of course), cherries, a green pear and the pomegranit and went back to the hostel. Shortly thereafter, I met my roommates, Abi (British transplanted to NZ’s capitol, Wellington) and Christina (German). They were both a bit older than me but probably by only 10 years at the very most.

Christmas morning I got up and had breakfast, then began assembling my fruit salad. There were very few serving dishes available, so I decided to use a bunt cake tin, which ended up looking interesting and different. Anyway, afterwards I went on a little run along Lake Taupo, which is just lovely. I then showered and headed up to the kitchen for the potluck. There was a very interesting variety of foods present, as our chefs hail from far flung corners of the globe. There were several varieties of German potato salad (surprise, surprise!) and some French potatoes too. I walked up to this ADORABLE Frenchman standing at the stove over a steaming pan of partiflette (not sure if that’s the right spelling…) He smiled and asked if I wanted to try some and I was like “Sure!”, of course, and he proceeded to heap a mound of it onto my plate, which was ok because it was delicious. Apparently it’s from around les Alps. Anyway, some people just used whatever was on hand to come up with some interesting pasta salads…some of these pasta adventures turned out better than others. I was beyond delighted to see my fruit salad not only disappear rather quickly, but also being photographed by one of the guests! It melted my heart, this girl was just taking great care to get a good shot of it. And then a Yugoslavian woman told me that she thought it was really nice. It made my day!

Abi, Christina, and I had decided the day before that we’d try to hike to the Huka Falls on Christmas Day if the weather cooperated. We set out around 4 and returned around 8. It was a perfectly beautiful day and we passed everything from Silver Ferns (New Zealand’s native national tree and a proud symbol of NZ’s spirit of beauty and uniqueness) to hot spring rivers. We saw lots of families out and about enjoying the day; lots of people were bathing in the hot rivers. There was this crazed Rottweiler that we spotted wresting something in the water, and I was bracing myself for the trauma of watching it haul out a wriggling, bloody, 50 pound trout up to the shore (yes, my mind was just running wild). I was even more shocked to watch it finally dig out a rock the size of a soccer ball and gingerly muzzle it up to the shore at least 15 feet away. It could barely keep its head upright the thing was so heavy—it made my teeth just ache, watching. Anyway, then it just went to town on the thing before it’s dad managed to get its attention away from the rock, which the dog seemed to be convinced was alive but really needed to be dead. It was hilarious. Anyway, can you tell I miss Miss Rosie Pose heaps?

Anyway, it was a lovely hike and I really enjoyed Christina and Abi’s company. When we arrived home we pooled our resources and managed to produce a beyond satiating steak and salad dinner—perfect for a cool summer night. A few glasses of wine and some chocolate, and the day was complete and perfect, as Christmas Days thousands of miles away from friends and family go. If New Years is even half as good I’ll be thrilled.

In case I never wished you Merry Christmas, and even if I did, I hope it was wonderful for you.