The most recent envoy sent from Wellington to Barbados says he has big shoes to fill, but expects weather issues will narrow that gap…

Anton Ojala addressed media and well-wishers at the Sweetfield Manor in Brittons New Road on Monday evening.

The Pacific Rim diplomat greeted the audience in Maori the original Polynesian dialect spoken before Europeans invaded those islands in the 1700s.

Sweetfield Manor, a historic designated colonial building, was constructed at the beginning of the 20th Century for one of the early merchant families in Barbados. It is now an elegant in-land boutique hotel of 13 rooms.