New Zealand Breakfast

We started our day with a leisurely breakfast, getting caught up with hosts Tony and Marlene.

The Eden Park B&B has a reputation for the friendliness of its hosts … its perky mascot, Mr. Darcy … and Marlene’s astounding breakfasts. After tucking into French press coffees and a fruit cocktail (complete with watermelon, nasi pears, and fresh apricots), we amused ourselves with blueberry madelines until Marlene brought us a heaping plate of pillow-soft eggs atop crusty toast. The strips of hearty bacon were a nice addition … but the fact that the whole plate is garnished with fresh avocado — that’s fresh, as in “freshly picked out of the tree just outside the bedroom window” — really put the whole breakfast over the top.

So: which was better … the breakfast or the company? Well, they were both excellent, of course. What made breakfast even better? Phoning up J & J (who were in Georgia, watching snow flurries) to brag about our first summer morning in NZ.