Kia Ora!

We had heard much about Pyke's Umu's and were dying to try one for ourselves so we were really happy to hear that Pyke was going to cook us an Umu for Sunday lunch and dinner before Kie, Lappin, Matt and Pyke went to the Warriors v. Dragons game at Mount Smart Stadium. We woke up early doors and went straight to Pyke and Jo's house where we found Pyke already in the garden. He had fired up the rocks which were red hot and ready for the food. Kie and Lappin got stuck in with helping Pyke. The food was covered in tin foil; we had two chickens, pork and taro - the root of a tropical plant which is starchy like potato.

Once the food was on the burning hot rocks, it was covered with warm rocks, damp newspaper, sheets and corrugated iron sheets. We left the food to cook for a couple of hours before we returned to the Umu and the boys uncovered the food. Despite having already had an awesome cooked breakfast made by Matt, we were still ready to tuck into some freshly cooked chicken and wow. It was amazing. The meat literally fell off the bone - yum. We also got the chance to try taro for the first time, and it didn't really taste of anything, it was just like bland potato but worth trying.

The time had come for the boys to go to the rugby so we all went back to Matt and Tash's where the boys got ready while Sophie and Tash chilled out for the day. When the boys came back we had the rest of the Umu cooked food for dinner, joined by Pyke and Jo. Both the pork and the chicken were to die for and Sophie went up for seconds!

We were so grateful to be able to try Pyke's Umu and now we know for ourselves why it's much talked about - because it's awesome! Thanks Pyke!

Lots of love, Sophie and Kie xx