Hondo and Sachmo

One day we decided to walk to a bar that Mum had read about in The Lonely Planet, it is apparently called "Sachmo's" and on a Sunday afternoon they have music and do gourmet pizzas. What a good combination.

So despite the rather long walk we set off with hope in a=our hearts and knowing that there was a good sit-down and food at the end of it.

The walk took us along the Avon river northwest out of town. It was a beautiful walk with lovely weeping trees bending over the river in dignified silence. Reflected in the shimmering water.

When we had walked the whole length of this particular road with no sign of Sachmo's we found a coffee shop staffed by a young blonde woman who looked at us askance when I asked about where Sachmo's was. We were not the kind of people she expected to go there perhaps?

"Git a lung wark" she said

(Note about the NZ accent: The word "desk" is prounonced "Disk" the word "Lid" is pronouned a little like "led" crossed with "lud")

Anyway we walked back along the road still couldn't find it. Eventually we went into an Asian shop to ask if they had heard of it. There were three chineese men in there and they all whipped out maps and started to look at them and discuss in hurried Chinese our request. This went on for a long time and mainly I could only see the tops of there heads (balding mostly).

One of the men seized the Lonely Planet book and deciphering the text announced: "I find" and marched out of the shop with the book and and therefore us following. We knew the address and had been up and down the street ourselves, but in his opinion we just had not looked hard enough. We arrived in the street and he stood there lookingat the numbers and then said

"Maybe it this one?" pointing at what was clearly a domestic house.
"No I don't think it is" I said "Its the wrong number anyway."
"I ask" he crossed the road into another domestic garden where a man was minding his own business smoking a ciggerette.
"Never 'erd of it mite" the book was put closer to the man's eyes and the question was asked again.
"No Mite. . ."

Undeterred the man walked further along the street. I asked him his name "Hondo" he said, and what was he doing here? "PHD in agriculture" and with that he was up another driveway to knock on a door. This man was not giving up!

After a long conversation with a confused man at the door of his house he came out of the Garden again "Maybe this?" he indicated a Garden Centre.

It took me sometime to get the Lonely Planet back off him and then we walked back to town quite exhausted.

I feel it's safe to say this man WILL get his PHD and is probably still enquiring up and down the street in search of Sachmo's