Feeling far from home and the typical Kiwi summertime Christmas, the group dreamed up one way to bring it closer: the barbecue pavlova.
Hosts Jarrad Murray, originally from Naseby, and his wife Barbara Chewings, originally from Mossburn, used Ms Chewings' mother's pavlova recipe and cooked it in their lidded barbecue using a "complicated yet elegant arrangement of trays, grills and racks", plus careful monitoring of the temperature.
Technical advice was provided by Ms Chewings' nephew, David Cox, who spent three and a-half years as an oven designer for Fisher and Paykel in Mosgiel before leaving for the United Kingdom in July this year.
Also visiting in London was his sister, Rebecca Cox, of Christchurch.
The combination of Kiwi engineering expertise and tried-and-tested recipe paid dividends, although the 90-minute cooking time was tense for Mr Cox.
"There is no window in the barbecue cover, so until time was up, we had no idea whether it had worked or not," he said.
Happily, the experiment was successful - so successful, Ms Cox decided to email pictures to the Otago Daily Times.
She said the group had not yet decided what next year's Christmas Day barbecue challenge would be.
"I like the idea of trying a Christmas pudding . . ."
