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My, how things have changed!

It pays sometimes to wind the past back a little and take a look at things at the beginning, and realise how far you have come. Day to day, you look around and take it for granted the stuff that somehow always seems to have been that way. You forget the struggles and privations that you went through to achieve what you no have. We slept in the garage sleep out for the 6 months the house was being built, cooking on the BBQ just outside the veranda door, in all weathers! Despite the discomfort, it...

Spring!

We feel like spring has arrived! The weather has got warmer (with the odd frost to keep us on our toes!) and the first blossoms have appeared on the fruit trees. The asparagus is poking the odd tentative head above the soil. It will soon be time for the goat and the donkey to start loosing their winter coats, small tufts of hair snagged on the fence or drifting by on the breeze. There is a feeling of hope and renewal in the air, and bookings are starting to roll in for the New Year. Mandy is alr...

NZIPP conference in Rotorua

On a recent weekend we attended the nz Institute of professional photographers at the rotorua events centre to see an exhibition of prints, together with live judging by some of new zealand most prominent photographers. A fascinating experience to be able to sit in on a live judging panel and listen to the varying opinions of the prints on display. Two of the most prestigious photographers on the panel were Jackie Ranken and Mikes Langford, who run the Queenstown Centre for Creative P...

Otago Rail Trail

It's long been our ambition to ride the Rail Trail down in Otago, in the South Island, and recently we decided to close up shop for a week or so and take the trip. The trail is of course a disused railway line, maintained by the Department of Conservation together with Otago Rail Trail Trust, and runs 150k between the towns of Clyde and Middlemarch. There are 16 small towns (actually some on them are too small to qualify as a town!) between the two destinations, offering accommodation along the ...

Vegetarian delights!

Here at the Lodge we take great pride in offering a truly vegetarian choice on our evening dinner menu. Our definition of Vegetarian includes milk, cheese and eggs by the way. I know there are other definitions but that's the one we work with currently. What we're about is making vegetarian food look and taste great, and so we love it when a confirmed meat eater chooses a veggie dish to try for those reasons! Our recent favourite has been an Aubergine Galette, a roasted stack of aubergin...