A taste of New Zealand

When we arrived at our accommodation on Wednesday J used the phrase “shell-shocked” quite a bit. It had been a long journey - something we hadn’t done since early 2020 - and our self-catering suite is huge with its own private garden. Not quite what we were expecting. The hotel is experimenting with a bit of self-catering, so we had some niggles, but they were quickly sorted. And on a couple of nights we’ve had meals from the hotel restaurant delivered to us, the first meals we haven’t cooked ourselves since early 2020. And very good they are too (our second, pre-match, is this evening)

The garden has three huge succulents at its heart. Of those the New Zealand Flax is in full flower, and it is very much bee heaven. The bumblebees pitch into the long tube like flowers head first. The honey bees have a more delicate approach. Whatever the technique the flowers must produce a lot of nectar. The bees carry a lot of very orange pollen on their leg brushes.

Our second visit to Aunty V’s this afternoon, where we watched the Federer-Norrie match at Wimbledon. Cameron Norrie did well.