And it's Happy Christmas from him...

A little on the late side as usual. Oops.
Anyway, hope everyone had a very happy Christmas, and will go on to have very pleasant, productive, prosperous new years.
Another anniversary should also be addressed at this point - Gary and Julia have been away from the UK for an entire year at this point - yes, it's a full (very full if you re-read this thing) twelve months since we sat in Far From the Madding Crowd and went "So... you're off then" and other generally encouraging comments. So congratulations on that front.

As I rambled in a comment further down the page, Gary's catering-for-twenty-adventure-spectacular was a storming success, even if the weather in Queenstown did not quite dress for the occasion, the two turkeys and all the trimmings (and I mean all of them) went down very well indeed. Of course it was a particularly North European meal for a Southern hemisphere Christmas - including a number of German delicacies cooked up by Sebastian, but I'm sure some will be pleased to know that we have now converted some people to the wonders of Christmas Pudding and brandy cream. Seriously, we had people prodding the plum puddings in confusion with 'what the hell is this' expressions.

I'm back in Christchurch at time of writing, but will be rocketing back down to Queenstown for the new year, which should be great - especially if the food is even half as good.
You are cooking again, right Gary?