The Boswells in Europe

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October 20 to 23 - Aberfoyle Mushroom Festival, Scotland

Click on each image to view a larger picture. The pop up is best viewed at full screen size

Some time ago Kohanga received a phone call from the organisers in Scotland asking if we would go up to their festival as the theme this year was New Zealand. Naturally we said yes but they had made a mistake, they were actually after Ngati Ranana! But as it turned out (Ngati Ranana still went) it was the best mistaken phone call they ever made! :)

So we all turned up to the airport but some people forgot their passports AND didn't have their drivers licence's on them (not naming any names Maina and Andrew!). Not all was lost they, they left their kids with us and joined us the following evening (saturday night) just in time for dinner at the bird sanctuary where we also went for a walk through the bush (eimii's photo of her trying to blow the candle out was taken on the bush walk).

The kids in charge of the cafe!
We were looking at this photo and then realised it was taken by a friend of ours in NZ (www.tim.co.nz), who was also the photographer at our wedding :)
The backdrop to Maui and the Sun, this sun was made from the paper local kids used to draw the designs they wanted painted on their faces. It now hangs in one of the local schools in their dinner hall.
The Kohanga kids had the time of their lives, both performing and playing with the local children. During Saturday and Sunday we were running workshops in the town hall, these events were very popular with the locals and we even had every Maori in Scotland dropping by for a cuppa and bacon and egg pie! The big finale was Sunday nights Ceilidh where everyone danced until they dropped!
On the Monday we all boarded our bus and headed to Stirling Castle for the day!
It was a bit like herding chickens at times, trying to get everyone heading in the same direction :)
The King and Queen!

After stopping for dinner at the Coachman's on Monday night we all jumped on our bus, then on to the plan, followed by the train, underground and taxi and got home around midnight, Monday night!

Everyone was absolutely hammered after a fantastic weekend away enjoying both the Scottish hospitality (honestly, small town Scotland is just the same as small town NZ, it was like being at home!) and the company of everyone from Kohanga.

But what really made the weekend was the new friends we made in Aberfoyle. Everyone agreed that it would be great to return next year (but perhaps not work as hard the next time! :)