A former Tauranga woman who has not spent Christmas with her Bay family for six years has finally come home - all thanks to a patriotic yeasty spread.
Nicola Manners flew from northern Uganda to her parents' Bethlehem home yesterday after winning a Marmite promotion offering one-way tickets home for Kiwis
wanting to spend Christmas with family.
A total of 100 winners arrived in Auckland yesterday to return to towns and cities throughout the country.
Ms Manners joins five other people returning to the Western Bay. Originally, she had planned a "normal" northern Uganda Christmas - looking after orphaned, abandoned and vulnerable children at the "Babies Home" shelter she set up and gathering with other expats to have a meal "of some sort, depending on whether we have power or water".
She has not lived in New Zealand since 2002.
"It is such a gift really for me to be able to spend time with family that I haven't been to do at Christmas for so long," she said.
Her list of must-dos includes visiting niece Ariella, 1, and going "to see the ocean again".
