Safe and Sound (and Shopping!)

So yeah, New Zealand got an Earthquake.   But no worries, I'm safe!  The quake was in Christchurch, way south of here, on the South Island.   Whether it's any relation or not, the wind here has been TERRIBLE however--- it woke me up at 0300 and I couldn't fall back to sleep.  The wind continues to howl and the rain pelt against my beachhouse windows.  So let the early morning blogging begin!
For an update, the lolly cake turned out great.   Potluck at work on Friday was a nice way to unwind.   My plans to go to the gym afterward were crushed when I saw the gym closes at 7pm on Friday nights.  So I went to the "Hawera 2" (yes two theaters, whoopee!).  I saw "It's a Wonderful Afterlife"--- which was good for a chuckle.  Think of it as the Bollywood Version of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" meets "Scary Movie".  Check it out if you can.      The depressing part is I was only one of 3 people in the theater on a FRIDAY NIGHT.  Where do these people go?  What do they do?    I am not sure....

So big news here!   I found a tramping buddy!    Nooooo perverted guyfriends, not that type of tramp.  Tramp is NZ terms for "big hike".  Like those of the many hours to days variety.  The gym owner introduced me to a guy who's taking me tramping in Egmont Natl Park next weekend!   So I needed to get my supplies--- STAT!

The other doc and I made a daytrip to New Plymouth on Saturday.   He had me cracking up when he nicknamed the town "Blow Your Whole Paycheck-mouth", which is exactly what happens after being away from shops, malls, etc in Hawera.  At least I'm supporting the New Zealand economy!   

Look at all my fun new gear!   Can't wait to use it -  next weekend!  :)

New Plymouth has a fantastic coastal walkway, so we took a stroll on that since it was actually pretty nice weather for a change.

They also have this crazy piece of art called the "Wind Wand", which is a 45 meter red fiberglass tube that bends/sways with the wind.  At night the top of it glows!  Fun.

And it wouldn't be a NZ weekend without a rainbow, right? 

I actually spent Saturday night in Hawera.    Just took a sunset walk on one of the black sand beaches in the town.

Sunday it was time to break in my new tramping boots!    I hit up the York Road Loop Track, which follows along the old Egmont Branch Railway line that used to provide metal for roads and rocks for Port Taranaki.  While hiking through the forest, there were many stops with old stone quarry and railroad remains. 

Here's the old foundation of a stone crusher.  (yeah I love that word, CRUSHER)

All that's left of the actual railroad!

The rust color in the rocks below is partially from rusting train tracks, but also from manganese oxide bubbling up from inside the earth!   (Three cheers for Inorganic Chemistry!)

After hike #1, I drove to Opunake (oh-poo-knock-eee), a small beach town which I guess its known worldwide for it's great surf.   It's also the birthplace of Peter Snell, a Gold Medal Olympian for the 800 and 1500 meter races.

Peter is all his bronze gloriousness.

The town has a fabulous beach walk, several kilometers right along the Tasman sea.  Beautiful cliffs!

Beautiful flowers, too!

The only person I came across on my hike was this lady:

Just what was she doing?   Fishing for whitebait!   Apparently it is now whitebait season--- everyone at work talks about how they go most weekends.   (Thus why no one was in the movie theater, I guess!)  Whitebait are part of the galaxiidae fish species.  Their larvae hatch in the ocean/sea, then swim upstream as juveniles to then grow and live their adult life in streams/rivers.  They're quite a delicacy here!    The fisherpeople sit (and sit and sit and sit) with their nets in the streams waiting for the whitebait to swim into them!    Since I was curious (and hadn't spoke to anyone ALL DAY), I chatted it up with this lady and asked to take a peek at her goods....

SO CUTE!   Almost too cute to eat.  Yep, I said almost.   Since they have a mild taste, they're supposedly best eaten in an egg fritter.   So of course I stopped at the fish takeaway shop on the way home to get me some whitebait fritter!

With lemon... yum!   My first fish omelette.  

On the way to the fish place, I passed the Hawera Pizza Hut.  (yes there is a Pizza Hut here).  They had a sign for "minted lamb" pizza.  Hmm.. that might need to be my next culinary adventure!

Until next time!