Whitebaiting

It’s the whitebait season in NZ. All over the country people gather at rivermouths - and up to the tidal limits of rivers - with their nets and buckets to catch the tiny fish species which make up what is generically known as ‘whitebait’.

In Britain I only ever saw - and ate - whitebait deep fried. In New Zealand the classic way to eat them is in a fritter between two slices of buttered white bread. I haven’t really acquired the taste for this way of ‘enjoying’ whitebait.

This is the Kakanui River mouth, where Bean and I walked this afternoon. Blustery and sunny.

We had been visiting J who was celebrating with brunch with his wife and me. I was under strict instructions to arrive at 11am, which I duly did, only to find J and A had forgotten about Daylight Saving. They couldn’t understand why I was an hour early. Confusion reigned.

It’s been wonderful to be under the sun again. Three days of cloud was quite enough. I came home to plant out sweetpeas and do the final preparation to plant out the peas tomorrow.

I’m far behind reading your journals at the moment: my days seem very full suddenly.