March 28th 2012

Góðir Íslendingar!

Our annual reunion was held at the Waiteti Trout Stream Motor Camp in Ngongotaha on March 2nd and 3^rd, and in spite of rather miserable weather I think it was a big success. Around 64 people attended at some stage through the weekend, and I think this must have been the biggest crowd we have ever had.

Most people enjoyed the good selection of the Icelandic finger food on offer and I want to thank all those who went to the trouble of making or bringing all the lovely stuff. This makes our reunions really special.

Big thanks must go to Finnbogi who went to the trouble of grilling a whole pig for us to enjoy on the Saturday night. (He had to make the grill for the spit roast before he did the cooking!). Also big thanks to Nicola, Ingi, Marie and Marit for organising and preparing the rest of the food. Last, but not least, thanks to all the others who also helped out, and did the cleaning up afterwards.

It was great to see so many new people at the reunion, and I hope you enjoyed the weekend enough to want to come back next year. There are quite a number of Icelanders here in NZ at the moment, in connection with geothermal drilling around Taupo, and hopefully we will get to see more of them at the next reunion.

The issue of a web page for the NZ Icelandic Society came up at the meeting, but we don’t appear to have anyone willing or capable of setting this up for us, so in the meantime we have to make do with the current blogspot. It would be nice to see more people contribute to it… Halldora has offered to put us on Facebook, and I understand anyone keen on getting in touch with the Society will be able locate us that way.

Our book exchange seems to grow every year so if you have any Icelandic books you are happy to pass on, please bring them to the next reunion. There is demand for Icelandic children’s books too, and if you have them lying around, there are quite a few bi-lingual children who may have need for them. Viv Hognason has kindly offered to be our “librarian”, and I’m happy to be a “go-between” too.

Scandinavian Festival. This will be held in Dannevirke February 22^nd 23^rd and 24^th 2013. We won’t be officially involved, but I’m sure Viv and Petur Hognason will be there to represent us, if they can. I have explained to previous organisers that we don’t have the finance or sufficient number of people to be involved, and they seem to understand that. We have also found out the hard way that there is very little interest among our members to be a part of this. However, everyone is welcome, and those of you interested may wish to keep up with www.scandinavianfestival.org.nz

The next reunion will be held at Waiteti Trout Stream Motor Camp, yet again. The food preparation will be in the hands of Gilli, Vera, Thury, Vignir, Runa and Arana. We are really lucky that Michael, the camp owner, is very happy to have us, and he has asked me to pass on that he thinks we are a great bunch of lovely people and he doesn’t understand why we have had issues with other camp owners in the past! Hopefully we will live up to his high opinion of us next time too! He is keeping all the accommodation for us at this stage, same as last year. He is keen on giving people re-booking the same rooms again a priority for the time being, but I think those re-bookings should be made no later than mid-April. After that it is “free for all” and “first in first served”. I understand he is planning to do up some of the lodge rooms in the near future, and make them more in line with the facilities of the cabins, so there may be more cabin-style accommodation available next time.

Kær kveðja,

Sigrún Edda

Icelandic Reunion 2012

Hi everyone.

This is a reminder regarding the Icelandic reunion in Rotorua March 2^nd and 3^rd 2012.

Michael is holding the camp for us until December 31^st, but would appreciate if you make your bookings as soon as possible. Don’t forget to state that you are a part of the Icelandic reunion at the time of your booking.

He tells me that the kitchen, shower block and the toilet block have been renovated this winter so the place should be even better than last time.

We want to see as many of you as possible!

Waiteti Trout Stream Holiday Park
14 Okona Cres Ngongotaha Rotorua
P 07 357 5255
E stay@waiteti.com
W www.waiteti.com

Merry Christmas, and hope to see you at the reunion.

Regards

Sigrun Crowe

Scandinavian favorites

Happy new year everyone! hope you had a wonderful holiday celebrating with friends and family :)

I wanted to share something quite awesome in case you hadn't heard about this... There is a website based here in New Zealand selling Scndinavian favorites like Cod roe créme - or as we call it in Iceland ''Kavíar í túbu - caviar in a tube'' (I'm having some right now, on toast. It reminded me to post about the site) Yummmm!

They also have Super salty liquorice, and Tyrkisk Peber candy, Daim chocolate, and lump fish caviar among other yummy things :)

The website is www.swenztaste.co.nz Pass it on to your Icelandic or scandinavian friends who might be missing a certain taste of home ;)
(here's hoping they start importing cocoa puffs)

Þorrablót

Hello everyone! Just letting you know we are all still here :)

The blog has been quite dormant for a while now and we hope to change that.. These past few weeks in Christchurch have been shaky to say the least but we are all safe and well, and celebrated this weekend with the annual Þorrablót!
(if you have photos you would like to share from the evening please get in touch and we can add them to this blog)

The food was the most impressive collection of Icelandic delicacies! We had rotten skate/Skata, pickled herring two ways/síld, Rotten shark/Hákarl, Sheep heads/svið, Rye Bread/rúgbrauð, Pate/kindakæfa, potatoes in white sauce/uppstúfur, Swede mash/rófustappa, pickled red cabbage/rauðkál, crepes/pönnukökur, Icelandic donuts?/kleinur, haggis/lyfrapylsa, blood pudding/blóðmör, flatcakes?/flatkökur, double smoked leg of lamb/hangikjöt and of course plenty of Beer/mead ;) and black death/Brennivín...

The costumes were absolutely awesome and our Icelandic singing was met with a very impressive bagpipe playing scotsman! (some of us learned it's not an easy instrument to play..)

I wanted to say thank you to everyone who helped make the event happen. It was a raging success!

Please do send us your comments and/or photos :)

Skál!

North Island annual reunion, a message from Sigrun Edda

Hallo everyone.

Our annual North Island reunion was held at Awakeri on March 5th to 7th 2010. Thank you, Nicola and Finnbogi, for all the great organising and effort. The dinner was brilliant, and so was the breakfast. This was much appreciated, and will be a hard act to follow!

The turn-out was much better than the two previous years, and that was great to see. A big welcome to the two new families that showed up, Hilmar, Leeanne, Runa Lind, Arana and their children.

At the meeting we decided that we would stick to being a ‘social club’ rather than a fully fledged ‘society’ , with bigger obligations and expectations than our members are keen on.

There will be no membership fees at this stage. The money in the Icelandic Society’s account will stay there for the time being.

We will not be taking part in the Scandinavian Festivals on a permanent basis, but ‘play it by ear’ each time. The next Scandinavian Festival will be in Norsewood in February 2011, and Vivien and Petur Hognason have offered to represent us there. They will no doubt give us an update on the program closer to the time, and everyone is welcome to attend.

However, this will not replace our reunion in 2011, which will be held somewhere in the ROTORUA district. The 3 Icelandic families in the area will work at finding a suitable venue, and we will let you know the details closer to the time. We will be working on having this the first weekend in March, as per tradition.

I’m trying to start up a scrap book from our reunions, and would love to be able to go back to the very first one in Waharoa in 1982. I have got a good selection of photos from 2005 and 2007, but anything else is sadly missing. Please email or post me any photos you can spare, I’m sure this exercise will be worth it in the long run.

I have updated the contact list to the best of my ability, and will email it to everyone. Please let me know if you see any mistakes, if you know of people on the list that have left the country, or if you know of anyone missing. This list just keeps on growing, but there are quite a few people there no-one has seen or heard of for years. I’m not sure what to do about that; I’m not keen on dropping anyone off just because they haven’t been in contact for a while.

I would love to see more of your news on our blogspot, that is what it is for. It doesn’t have to be of great importance to the wider world, just a bit of fun for us here in NZ.

Regards

Sigrun Edda Crowe

Tónleikaferð / On tour

Hello everyone! I just got an email that reminded me to put this up here.. I'm going to be playing in Nelson, Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland this month - so any of you Icelanders here or there if you come to the show/s come say hello ;)

The dates are:

Saturday 6th March - 9pm The Mussel inn - Takaka, New Zealand

Amanda Palmer NZ tour -support
Friday 12th March at Bodega, Wellington
Tuesday 16th March at Al’s Bar, Christchurch
Weds 17th March at The Kings Arms, Auckland

And here are the posters:

Og hér fyrir neðan að lokum set ég inn nýtt lag. Þetta var tekið upp í Akaroa síðasta Laugardag xox (A new song recorded last weekend in Akaroa)


xoxoHera
www.herasings.com

Invitation for Open Day 28 February 2010

You are kindly invited to join us for our 1st Open Day show-casing Icelandic horses on Sunday, February 28, from 11.00 am to 4.00 pm. The Open Day will take place at Neđri Bakki Icelandic Horses Stud, 20B Ostrich Farm Road, Pukekohe. It is organized and hosted by the two leading studs on the North Island: Neđri Bakki and Skógarrönd. Come along and find out why the Icelandic horse has become one of the most popular horses for adult riding in much of Europe! They are extremely good natured, versatile and enthusiastic.

"They have charm, strength and courage, are intelligent and love being trained. The Icelandic horse has five gaits. Among the usual gaits - walk, trot and canter - the Icelandic horse also has the magical tölt, a remarkably smooth four-beat running walk.
No other breed can manage this gait as naturally and beautifully as the Icelandic horse. Pace is the fifth gait but not found in all Icelandic horses. Most Icelandic horses today are between 13hh and 14hh. They are extremely strong and are expected to carry any adult, no matter how tall and heavy. The Icelandic horse can be found in over 40 different colours, with hundreds of colour combinations."

At the Open Day we will:

. Demonstrate the horses in two mini-shows at 12 pm and 2 pm.

. Show the mares and their new foals, born over the last two months.

. Exhibit saddles and other equipment for Icelandic horses, books and training material, information on the NZ Icelandic Horse Breeders and Riders Association.

. Be happy to talk about the horses and answer any questions you might have.

. Arrange a cake stall with coffee, tea, soft drinks, and sausages to purchase on site.

There will be plenty of parking spaces at the property. Follow the signs and you will be directed to the front paddock to park.

Bring along your family and friends for few relaxing hours.

We are looking forwards to seeing you!

Snejina, Kenneth & Alexia
Neđri Bakki Icelandic Horses Stud
www.icehorse.co.nz

Jennie
Skógarrönd Ltd
Icelandic Horses
www.vikinghorse.co.nz


Message from Sigrun:

To all of those coming to the Awakeri reunion:

I'm trying to start a scrapbook with photos from our reunions, but I really
need your input.

A photo or two from each of the 23 reunions would be great. Anyone willing to contribute photos they can put a date to would be a good start. Can you please bring these to Awakeri, or otherwise email them to me if you are not coming.