Sunday

03.10.
First checkout of a Christian congregation: the Baptist church. Again, an extremely hearty and open welcome! The service was very child-friendly, a real family service. After that we were invited by a young family with six (!) children to have lunch and spend the afternoon with them. It was a beautiful afternoon in their home at the coast, again fantastic sea views from a beautiful garden with indigenous trees, at the bottom of a hill with the rests of an old Maori Pa (a kind of fortress). He is a GP as well and working at the competing “Thames Health Centre” (so we could shop talk).
As another family was invited, there were at least 12 children and six adults... But, how did they solve the problem with the cooking? Without much hassle: as the big supermarkets in NZ open 7 days a week they just passed at Pak'n Save and bought a couple of Pizzas and baked them in their extra big oven. The kids spent a marvellous afternoon: there was a trampoline, several swings, a very special skateboard, a tree-house, a friendly dog, a possum (a rodent of approx. 25 cm size that behaves like a monkey), a creek with an eel that could be fed with frozen fish, two goats, and an airgun with which the elder boys were allowed to practice (under supervision).