Ereti and Wallace's houseWe had a good drive to Scone to stay with Ereti and Wallace Mitchell. In 1975, Ereti and Lil set off on their big 'OE' (Overseas Experience). After 3 years Lil returned to NZ with John but Ereti stayed on and married and had her family in Scotland. She is still here although her and Wallace are hoping to sell their house and return to NZ now that the two boys are independent. The oldest, Alistair has a van leasing business while Jason is studying music at Londonderry University.
Ereti has been involved with the NZ Scottish Society for many years and they organise all sorts of events for those who have Scottish- Kiwi interests.
Wallace has built a mini marae (traditional Maori meeting house) in the front garden and we are posed in front of that. With us is Doug from Invercargill. Doug works for a slaughterhouse in NZ that runs an exchange programme with slaughter houses here in Scotland so he comes over for 5 months each year. Doug is also a 'hangi master': he prepares the fire to cook food in the traditional Maori way, in the ground. A hole is dug and then a fire is set over rocks. The food is prepared and covered and set on the hot rocks. Finally everything is covered to hold the moisture in and the food steams for a few hours and has a slightly smokey taste.
Back: John and Wallace Front: Doug, Lil and EretiEreti and Wallace are great hosts and we spend our days reminiscing and our evenings playing charades.
Ereti, Ron ( a golf buddy), Lil and Wallace picnic at St Andrews.
