The good stuff was inside

One had to get past Wayne Masters' sizzled sausages - and very good sizzled sausages they were too - to get to the really good stuff at the Kaitaia Baptist Church fair on Saturday.

Inside was where the South African flavour of the day manifested itself, not least courtesy of Hester Scheepers, on holiday from the republic, and her Kaitaia resident (and All Black fan) daughter-in-law Nicolette.

This was the place to be for those who, on occasion, like to forgo all that is free range, organic, fat-free and healthy. Hester and Nicolette, who had stationed themselves in front of a modest "Food" sign that was somewhat superfluous, were turning out what Pastor Louis du Plessis insisted offered a true South African experience.

The piece de resistance was Hester and Nicolette's koeksisters, which appeared to be small deep-fried doughnut-like things that are dunked into syrup while still sizzling.

These were not at all injurious to one's life expectancy, the writer was assured, although one could feel one's arteries hardening just looking at them.

Still, it would have been rude to disobey Louis' instruction to take a (small) bag of them home to one's wife, who has made an art form of avoiding anything that might conceivably contain an unnecessary calorie, or worse, FAT. But whatever was in them it had a wondrous effect. She very nearly scoffed the lot.

And if koeksisters didn't do the trick there were Hester and Nicolette's pancakes. They too probably should have come with a health warning, but it would have been even ruder to ask what was in them - and in what quantities. They didn't seem to have labels.

The upshot of it all was that the friendly lady who was trying to sell chowder next door to the koeksisters and pancakes stand didn't do very well out of the Northland Age, although under other circumstances she would have.

It looked like very good chowder, but one can only eat so much.

However, one of Wayne and Alan Currie's sizzled sausages did join the koeksisters and pancake on the way out. Which meant there wasn't enough money left for the ATC car wash further along Matthews' Avenue. Or any need for lunch.