Stop at the Bus stop Cafe | Murray Lloyd Photography

murray lloyd September 2, 2013

The bus came from Kahuna in Taranaki and Kirsty Green came from the café scene in Wellington – they are now united in the front yard of a Te Horo property she owns.

Opened in May 2012 the beachy Bus Stop Café was buzzing the morning I visited. The delicious food is all homemade and the superb coffee would make you think you were in Wellington – at least 30 disappeared out the door in the short time I was photographing – along with all of the jam donuts and a pile of cheese puffs.

The message clearly is - arrive early.

Friands at the Bus Stop Cafe in Te Horo, New Zealand

Hello dolly slice at Bus Stop Cafe in Te Horo, New Zealand

Cheese Puffs at Bus Stop Cafe in Te Horo, New Zealand

Blueberry muffins at Bus Stop Cafe in Te Horo, New Zealand

Open from 9-4 Fri-Sun the café even has eftpos however you don’t need to pay for the very convivial atmosphere Kirsty and her sidekick Sarah conjure up.

One visitor whispered to me “since she arrived she’s really brought the community together you know”.

The not so secret Bus Stop Café has reopened in Te Horo beach. Signs point the way.

Floundering at Waikanae | Murray Lloyd Photography

murray lloyd January 21, 2013

Flounder is always on the menu at this time of year. Brother-in-law, Powerful Al usually manages the drag net operation along the beach with any other able bodied person tagging along. Although the net requires two people to drag it, crabs invariably scuttle in and it's all hands on deck to untangle them. The large ones end up as bisque or some crab flavoured dip ( thanks to painstaking work by Al) while the smaller ones are delivered back to the sea. A drag might net a couple of flounder, or even three, and sometimes there are just a few stray herring. After being gutted and scraped, flounder are cooked whole on the barbecue and served up with a wedge of lemon – a very delicate, sweet flavour; yummo.

Mother and son fishing with whitebait net at waikanae, New Zealand.

Ruth Pretty Whitebait Recipe | Murray Lloyd Photography

murray lloyd November 10, 2010

Elusive as they are, whitebait always attract controversy. If it isn't about how many whitebait make a good fritter, it's a river-side turf war on the West Coast or environmentalists holding whitebait up as the poster children for polluted rivers. While West Coasters boast of one and three hundred kilo catches, this season half a cup is a good result from a few hours at the Waikanae River.

However the half cup could go toward this recipe from Ruth Pretty, and if you miss out completely there is the mock whitebait recipe in old versions of the Edmonds Cookery Book.

West Coast Whitebait with zucchini ribbons