Well here we are. Almost 7 weeks down the track and ready (almost) to say adios to NZ. Definitely ready to say sayonara to Cambridge and the zoo-crew (so... a labrador, a fox terrier and a chihuahua walk into a bar, they use two Burmese cats as barstools. An African Gray and Amazon Yellow Nape, (talking parrots behind the bar) say ‘what’ll it be?’) As it turns out, fur infused, organised chaos. We can however highly recommend Dyson stick-style vacuum cleaners - at between 1 and 2 cups of hair, fur and dust per day off the tiled floors - brilliant bits of kit. Every, single day. We know that housework never killed anyone... but we not planning on taking the chance ever again.

We took the dogs for a couple of walks along the lake path but the three amigos were entirely unsuited to walking together and we ended up tiring them out with the ball-chucker and lots of running around the extensive lawns. We fell madly-deeply in love with Burmese cats as a breed. We’ve looked after them before and they’ve always been grand little puss cats - this time we did a bit of research and discovered they are described as ‘bricks wrapped in silk’ which is so very true. They weigh much more than the size of the cat would indicate - a strange form of cat gravity perhaps. They also go by the moniker ‘monkeys in cat suits’ - but our two were a bit older and have definitely calmed down with age. The parrots? Well mildly entertaining and we certainly had to watch our language in case they picked up anything untoward, but you are either a bird person or you’re not. As it happens, we can now say without a shadow of a doubt, that we are not. So that was the animals.

The property was one of the lake-proximate blocks near Lake Karapiro, rural-suburbia at it’s finest. The serenity was only broken by the sound of barking dogs (not always ours), the roar of lawn mowers (not always ours) and the reng-dang-dang of chainsaws (not ours, thankfully). Wealth in these parts is not determined by house price - they’re all expensive to one degree or another. More so, how big and grunty your ride-on mower is. If at any point there was a moratorium on mower use, this entire part of NZ would disappear beneath the long grass in the course of a month. There are 2 mower joints in Cambridge town and they’re always busy. We know this because after the first lawn mowing session, our delicate beast needed fixing. And for a few days we watched on, helpless, as the green swathes grew before our eyes. Thankfully one of the many neighbours popped over to loan us his mower (much gruntier).

The only fly in the ointment during our previous outstanding housesit in Wainui was the lack of town. Christchurch was 90 minutes away and Akaroa was small and very tourist focussed. Great for souvenir tea towels and fish and chips - but only had a buzz on the weekend. Well Cambridge was 1000% different. Wow! What a delightful regional town. Aside from 3 Sundays a week when town quietens down (the 4th Sunday is the Lions’ Club Trash & Treasure market...) town goes off, like a frog in a sock - every single day. Busy, busy, busy. It was super to see a buzzing high street, hardly any chain stores and money flowing like water (must be all those Melbourne Cup horses bred in this part of the world). We had a whale of a time in Cambridge. We enjoyed two of the Trash & Treasure markets (superb home baking to be had) and also visited the weekly Farmers’ markets most Saturdays. We panned for thrift store treasures at the towns 3 op shops and garnered a few bargains - a pair of knee high, Italian leather boots for me - 99% brand new and ideal for the forthcoming trip to Paris, a fabulous velvet blazer for James, some Possum/Merino gloves and socks and assorted other great buys. We visited the Cambridge Museum, housed in the old courthouse which was enlightening - the funniest thing we saw there from the early days of the settlement was ‘1000 young men, 3 pubs and 1 courthouse - Cambridge was destined to be busy’. We found a couple of self-guided walking maps at the museum and trundled around town quite happily - particularly enjoying the Art Deco shop frontages and leadlights. One map was the built heritage, the other focussed on the town park, set around a crater and lake - gorgeous blossom and a lovely walk - both at lake level (pictured) and around the top half of the park - beautiful flowers, a greenhouse and a bandstand fabricated all the way away in Glasgow a long time ago.

It’s not been all markets and skittles however. Due to the much lower fuel prices up north ($2.08 a litre vs. $2.25 down south), we occasionally even took long drives in the rolling countryside - but as a southerner I certainly missed the Alps, the snow and the mountain lakes. We visited a nifty suspension bridge and had a couple of picnics deep in the Waikato countryside. The highlight of our stay wasn’t however the ‘cheap’ (isn’t it relative) price of petrol, but rather the excellent fresh produce available for much lower prices than down south. Some of it was even in our own backyard. The orchard was full of lemons, oranges, mandarins and grapefruit when we arrived and it’s been a competition with the birds to see who could get through it soonest. We very quickly became accustomed to fresh grapefruit juice every day (super sweet - must have been a hybrid). We made lemon and salmon risotto (heavy on the lemons) and had a fiesta of mussels (fresh garlic, onions, white wine and, you guessed it, lemons). We even raked in a tonne of citrus and made thick-cut marmalade for the first time. Sadly, we are down to just one jar to take on our Irish adventure. We did however use up the last of our local walnuts and dates with our final freshly baked loaf to enjoy in our Auckland motel.

Home cooking is always fabulous (lucky that), but given we’ve not eaten out in a restaurant since May - it’s been a blessing that Cambridge is possessed of a superb one-stop-shop takeaway that has kept us in Chinese food, burgers and fish & chips for almost 2 months. We said our fond farewells the other night and the owner looked genuinely sad to see us go. Not surprised. There goes a guaranteed $25 a week from the till. At the other end of town there was a Chinese run bakery that kept us in sweet treats. Their claim to fame? Coffee walnut slice and, for a snack to finish our walks and get us home for lunch - a shared $1.50 sausage roll. They even have large coffees for under $5... we know! No one knows how they do it for the money.

Why oh why has this entire blog been about economising in the Land of the Long White Grocery Docket? Simply because we’re spending 7 weeks in Paris, The City of Light, in the not too distant future - we’re saving all our spending tokens for crusty baguettes, creamy camembert, savoury ham, a bottle of wine and a park bench next to the Seine - among a great many other things. But first - Auckland for a few days, then the joys of Ireland in November, Belgium in early December and then and only then, Paris - here we come!