Festive goodies

Sadly, the holiday is over now, but it was fun while it lasted. And I have the pics to prove it. Here are a wee few to be going on with. 🙂

Fun With Food
Foodie goodness is a big part of the festive season, from fruitmince pies to turkey with all the trimmings. As it happens, I did make fruitmince pies and a few more festive goodies….

A Southern Hemisphere Christmas meal for midsummer…

But it can be far too hot in the midst of the Southern Hemisphere’s midsummer to spend hours with a hot stove to achieve an ‘all the trimmings’ extravaganza.

So we went for salmon fillets with some salads of awesome—which worked pretty well, overall. Just sayin’ 😉

Lake Heron

Fun With the Great Outdoors
One of the great things about having the Christmas-New Year holiday at midsummer is that it’s a great time to get outdoors.

Despite some rain at times, we still managed to get out and about.

Initially we went to Lake Heron, which is close to the country I explored in my Driving To Edoras post. Grey skies aside, it’s a tranquil spot, even if the mountains were obscured by cloud.

The next day, we did a number of bush walks, in which fern, mountain beech forest, and swift-flowing creeks all featured.

And finally checked out the mighty Rakaia Gorge.

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If anyone wonders what the Telimbras River in The Wall Of Night series *might* look like, the Rakaia makes a useful starting point.

I guess some of you may be holidaying still, in which case, I hope you’re having a great time.

But do spare a few seconds to commiserate with the rest of us who’re back workin’… 😉