I've just had a count up. On Saturday night I set a new personal best - 58 mouths to feed. Between pheasants, chooks, new chicks, new friends from Aucklanders, old friends from out the back flat, The Winemaker, The Boss and I - the numbers really added up. Luckily I had tucked away just enough wine not to freak out over the fact there're usually only 8 knives and forks in the cutlery drawer.
The reason for the population explosion was a combination of eggs hatching (14 gorgeous new chicks in the last week), and a wee bit of a get together in the paddock next to our house.
While it's no secret The Boss and I live in Gibbston Valley, I now have to do a bit of name dropping that really gives away our location. Last Friday night The Boss and I gave up on watching television - you couldn't hear it over the noise of Credence Clearwater Revisited doing a soundcheck a few hundred metres away. Naturally we headed off down the track to tell them to turn the bloody racket down, but arrived just in time to see the band heading off in a procession of vehicles. Bugger.
I read that approximately fifteen thousand people spent Saturday afternoon at Gibbston Valley Stations first Summer Concert, featuring Dr Hook and CCR. Probably half of them walked, drove or bussed past our house, with a heap of campervans parking along the side of my chicken run. Abu and his flock weren't overly impressed with the racket, in fact I was surprised that anyone laid any eggs at all in the weekend.
Amongst the stream of arriving vehicles, I had my ears tuned for a highly distinctive sound. At about quarter to twelve I heard our house guests for the night coming up the road. Nothing on earth compares to the cackle and throb of four beautiful Harley Davidsons rumbling towards you. The fact that The Boss and I had never met these North Islanders before didn't matter - anyone prepared to ride from Auckland to Gibbston for a concert had to be okay.
Naturally we had to extend some Southern hospitality and introduce a few local wines to our visitors. It was great sitting on our front deck in the sun, getting to know each other and gleefully mocking everyone walking past laden down with picnic hampers and rugs for the concert ahead. And what a concert it was. Real goosebumps material. One memory I will never forget is when we all stood for a moment of silence in respect and support of the people of Christchurch. 15 000 people, and there wasn't a sound. It was a powerful experience.
The other thing I read about the concert was that it took two and a half hours to clear the carpark once the concert came to an end. I think the walk back to our place might have taken two and a half minutes. I've said it before and I'll say it again - it's tough living in paradise!
What I've learnt in the last two days:
1. A pillon passenger ride on the back of a Harley, up the zig zag road to the Crown Range look out is a wonderful way to clear your head after a VERY big night.
2. Out of interest I bravely did a sort out of our recycling bin this morning, only four beer cans, but thirteen empty wine bottles, not counting the two drunk by The Winemaker, The Boss and I on Friday night.
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