Jen hosts in her amazing mansion with palatial views from Telegraph Hill to the City on Saturday. The forecast is good so we will be making the most of her garden.

We finally leave the gargantuan shores of Russia behind as we head out into the Pacific Ocean. We are still (barely) in Australia but only by virtue of being in Norfolk Island, which was colonised by Britain as part of its settlement in Australia in 1788 and then served as a convict penal settlement until 1794. Today’s it’s official anthem is fittingly God Save the Queen.

We float through New Caledonia, a special collectivity of France located about 20,000 kilometres (12,000 mi) from Metropolitan France as well as Republic of Vanuatu, also previously owned by the French by a republic from 1980.

But our major destination this week is New Zealand, that upside-down shaped boot of a country that has given us hobbits, sheep and the haka. NZ cuisine ranges from traditional Maori fare, to British settler-influenced food, to Pacific-Rim influences. Famous dishes include the Pavlova (hotly disputed by Oz), lolly-cake and Anzac biscuits. Jen is a vegan so this latitude will be strictly vegetarian.

See you at Jen’s! RSVP jmclennan13@gmail.com.