Austrian Bed and Breakfast is receiving visitors

So the big day dawned bright-ish - and very hot.  As can so often be the case in Canterbury we ended up being fan-baked again and temperatures soared to 32 degrees.  It was dry and hot - and into this the traveler's stepped out.  However the airport was a nice cool 20 degrees - thanks to
the air-conditioning - so it made the waiting for them bearable. The welcoming committee had a good time catching up on the gossip while the attending Press - Photographer selected a suitable spot.  As you can see there was no flag waiving, and the red carpet roll out had to be delayed till later.

The reaction said it all- and I have to say - they looked remarkably fresh.  Doris did have her suitcase opened - something about undeclared soap - but apart from that they managed to get through all the check points unscathed.  I did warn them that there are 4 hoops to go through - the Immigration / customs officials - then the veterinary people and lastly the fashion police!!  As they took so long I sent a txt of to Wilfried asking him if he got stuck at the last hurdle and if so we could help him with that.  :)  However all was well and they came out and by the looks of it were happy to see the welcoming committee.  From there we took them straight home and let them settle in, then went for a stroll down to the local outdoor mall.  Understandably after 30 hours sitting in a plane it was time to stretch the legs.  Going on from past experiences - the first thing to come to grips with was the driving on the left side on the road - which meant looking first RIGHT  then left when crossing the road and the other thing was understanding that the sun here stands in the north - not south as in europe.
Time to get home and have a meal.  Mamabear made schnitzel and  I did  a salad - that was consumed along with some glasses of wine.  Gotta say - love the posture Wilfried.  Then it was time to break out the bubbly and celebrate the fact that they actually are here in New Zealand - so we did just that - but not before we sprung one last surprise on Wilfried.
Those of you who know him will know that he is a sucker for anything sweet - let alone chocolate and every year for the last 20 years

or so we packaged of some cadbury easter eggs  - dark chocolate eggs filled with a sugar-loaded creme filling - very rich and forbidden.  This year we were a bit slack and so managed to store some eggs from our last easter time in our Fridge. 12 eggs - full well knowing that this would not be enough - but we could not find any more anywhere.  Then this January immediately after new years eve - the stores started selling easter things - way out crazy if you ask me - but in this case it worked in our favor.  So we splashed out.
There are now exactly 54 eggs in the fridge and we presented him just with that - and - yes the reaction is, as they say on the  mastercard add, - Priceless!!!  Now will that mean one egg per week to last him for the year or will it mean the need to share - or share not???? Will there be room for this in his suitcase?  How about the Austrian Border control, will they confiscate the 'foreign substance' - thus creating the need to internally store them?? ahhhh all these questions - time to ponder them while we all catching up on some much needed zzzzzzzzzzzz's!!  Tomorrow - off to town for a stroll - busker's festival and sights and beach and garden and at days end - yes - the Royal Garden party at QEiii's place - the newly acquired summer residence . . . .

Have fun

Austrian Bed and Breakfast owner goes back to his roots - sort of

I have been thinking about this for some time now.  Each summer we have a lot of salads to eat - mostly green leaved stuff along with various other culinary delights - starting with Mushrooms passing by the red peppers and finishing somewhere near apples and nuts. 
Truth be told - it's whatever is readily available in the garden and in the cub-boards!
No salad is ever the same.  We must have had by now some 20 variations of a Waldorf Salad to the point of it NOT being a Waldorf any-longer.  Anywhooo - one of the last minute things to add is always a dressing and so far a little bit of the bought stuff (usually the unhealthy flavour) is liberally drizzled over the top. 
This year - THIS year- I was determined to be different - especially now that cousin Doris and co are coming. 
Rumour has it also, a certain 3x removed once sidestepped twice something rather - long lost descendant of Austrian Habsburg fame  (and appropriately named Sissi) and (uses fingers and toes to count - urm - whats after 25?)  in line of the succession - urm - may be gracing our abode with a visit as well - incognito of course- !  Seems she does not like to dine out on her dubious claim to fame - which is actually ok with me!! Her exact background is a bit murky as the blood line kinda drifts in and out of the public domain. *grins*

I digress . . . .

So take one bottle of Virgin Olive oil - add some cloves of Garlic, various green herbs (Purple Basil / Parsley / Curry plant [which looks like lavender] /  Lemon Thyme) uhu - can't wait!  YUMMY!! if it tastes as good as it smelled we should be near in heaven!   Is nine weeks of fermentation going to be enough??  We shall see later.

Is one bottle going to be enough?? Probably not - but this is the first - so may have to taste that before I experiment more . . . . . 

Have fun

Austrian Bed and Breakfast in Kiwiland

A long time ago in the dark-ages, a intrepid traveller landed on our shores and was in need of some TLC and well - other things.  He stayed with us in Christchurch for a year - 6 month of which we had the pleasure of housing him eg. he flatted with us.  Just prior to him coming here his Nephew Moritz was born - so we saw everything through his eyes.  Said nephew is a fine young man now and is also touring the world - along with is cousin - who both managed to be in the same time and space in New Zealand, and thanks to the "encouragement" of their Uncle they dropped by, for a couple of days.  First day was a "Moritz" day - activities of his choosing.
I had to be at work in the morning - but Mamabear had the day of and so first up they went to the Antarctic Center where they enjoyed the penguins and chill room and all other stuff relating to the Ice.  Christchurch is the staging post for many nations to fly down to the Antartic and do whatever study or research they do there.  The Center acts as  tourist attraction along with an educational aspect.  Seems Sara got boosebumps once she experienced the windchill factor room (minus 20 degrees). From there they picked me up from work and we headed into town for a light lunch.  The first place of choice was closed due to earthquake risk - so trundeled along or through Hagley Park to the Antigua boatsheds - where a really good and late lunch had been enjoyed in the sunshine.  From there it was back to the car via the rosegarden section of our Botanical Gardens and we did a 'let's see Wilfrieds old haunts tour' !! So we stopped at old Wesley - which has since been sold to a developer and changed shape a little bit (the original houses are still there though) to take a photo and sold a story or two.  From there to the place we used to live in Suva street.  Must have looked weird standing outside on the road and taking a picture.  Place had at one time burned on the inside but the mainstructure was still there - since then the owner added more room's on top of the house!! After this we headed to Brighton Beach - which was very windy with a chilly easterly - almost southerly coming of the sea.  Lots of white caps. The really weird thing was that the tide was up - and we have NEVER seen so little space between the dunes and the sea. Also there was a lot of debris lying round from the stuff that got washed out to sea from the swollen rivers - which came about the norwestcoast rains falling in the Alps. There was a news story of a "Wall of Water' coming down the Waimakiriri river - but nothing was ever shown on any news later in the day.  Suffice to say - when it rains in the Alps the river-water levels can raise by 1-3 meters in the space of half an hour. Anyhow I was talking to the life guard on return walk and mentioned the tide and his take was that it now regularly comes up right up to the dunes, and his view was, that it had something to do with the recent earthquakes.  Seemed silly - until we remembered that the land around Brighton and eastern suburbs have reportedly dropped 50cm - 1 meter, which would explain the higher then normal tide leves.  Hmmmmmm
From there we went around the ring route and up the Port Hills to the House of Takehe. Also closed due to earthquake risk. Seems during driving round town we mentioned the Shakes quite a bit.  Still we got a good view of the town and the outlaying 'Burbs. Back down the hill and a stopover at Fairhaven (another obligatory photo and story told) and it was time for home and a chinwag.  After some thoughts and discussion it was decided to go to Kaikoura tomorrow. Inbetween that we had a Pavlova for Dessert - and we hear that a certain more maturer Austrian is a expert Pav-maker.  We are looking forward to tasting one of his creations next time he visits us!! (no pressure)









The Tide was still coming in and had another 3-4 meters to go.











So if we row a boat in THAT direction - we would - urm eventually hit Chile?? Yup!!