There's a moment, right after they call your name, when the whole family looks at you at once and nobody knows what to say. This is where you point them at the cars, drive the short stretch to St Clair, and let the ocean sort the rest of it out.

We keep graduation simple the way it should be: a set dinner for the graduate and anyone who's proud enough to make the trip. University celebration or polytechnic, morning ceremony or afternoon — the table is the same — good food, easy drinks, and a window seat for the surf.

Chef cooks a three-course menu from the market — Otago produce, no lecture, nothing poncey — and we start the meal with a glass of bubbles for the person of the hour. Garlands, gasps and group photos all welcome; we're used to it at the end of graduation week.