The Marathon is on the 21st...and here's what you just ate

Our next weekend adventure takes us to Whangerai (pronounced Fawn-ger-ay) where we had once again secured ourselves a couch to crash on through couch surfers. Said couch surfer host told us that the one thing we had to do in the area was go and see the Whangerai heads. How could we refuse?

After a couple hours drive we begin our journey out to the coast and the Whangerai Heads. We hiked up on a small reserve, found a lone picnic table and had ourselves a picnic of, what else, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!! After lunch we made our way to a nearby beach to watch some surfers (I exaggerate, there was only one surfer). Among the other things to entertain us on the beach were a large group of teens clad in DHL rash guards training to be surf lifeguards, and an equestrian training and riding her horse.

We then find our way back into town to find our accomodations and on the way get a text from our host, Matt, saying that we had all been invited to a "dinner party". Now as many of you are probably thinking, dinner party brings forth images of posh little get togethers in only the finest of attire. We are all wearing shorts and T-shirts from hiking earlier and so share in quite the laugh as we contemplate how this dinner party will go over.

Turns out the New Zealand dinner party is quite the casual event and we are quite properly dressed for the occasion. When we get to the house, flatmates Matt and Stu greet us and we all sit down over a beer to wait until we leave for dinner. Amidst this friendly sit down, we find out what we will be eating: A wild pig that the host had shot the day before.

We made it to said host's house ("John Boy") and found out that the beer supply is dwindling and another dessert is needed to complete this night. So Stu and the three of us set off to the nearest grocery store, Woolworth's. Jackie and Stu get in line to pay for the Heinieken while Anna and I wait behind them to pay for the apple crumble we found. Jackie gets ID'd at this point by the supervisor at the counter, who as she is pulling out her ID, turns to Anna and I and says, "I'm going to need to see all three of the ID's. No exceptions". Well turns out I haven't brought my passport with me and we have to leave bearing only an apple crumble. Apparently we look like under 18 year olds, who came in to the grocery store with the old man we convinced to buy us beer and observe and take part in the whole act...right. We end up giving the money to Matt who goes back and gets the beer for us :).

Later we feast on delicous wild pig, and during dinner conversation, Anna and Jackie agree to do the Kirikiri half marathon on November 21st. And this is where our title inspiration comes from because John Boy emerges from his room and hands the girls a brochure for the marathon and says, "Here's the info for the marathon on the 21st, oh and here's what you just ate for dinner" as he hands us this picture:




Our way home the next day is spent exploring local bays and beaches and then visiting the "Honey centre" which we had skipped on the way because we didn't want to experience the bitter dissapointment that had come hand in hand with Candyland once again. Let me tell you, the honey centre was no candyland. We had some of the best ice cream ever...boysenberry honey, macadamia nut honey, banana honey are only a few of the flavors. Way better than fudge.

Love,
Alissa, Anna and Jackie