Tis the season to scallop

Greetings from the Corromandle Penisula New Zealand,

We arrived safe and sound on the dreary shores of New Zealand some five days ago, and since then have been staying with Aunty Allie and Uncle Chubb in the coastal town of Whitianga.

To begin with, Whitianga is a small coastal fishing town with an isolated population of 3000 people. The landscape is a combination of the great ocean road, and what we both would assume Ireland to look like, but somewhat dissappointed with the distinct lack of sheeps. The coastline is spotted with sheer cliffs and dramatic islands like that of the 12 apostles.

Even though the days have been max 15 degrees, and the water is too cold for swimming, the coastline is so picturesque, the water is calm, blue and inviting.

So what have we done so far... Chub was a champion in picking us up from the airport and driving us the 2.5 hour trip from Auckland.

The next day we were driven around the Corrimandle peninsula, with a trip to the town of Corrimandle itself where we took a tour on the local mountain train through some of the local forests, which culminated in some awesome views of the coastline and surrounding islands. The next day Alli took us to the hot water beach. This beach has not springs under certain parts of the sand and the idea is you have to dig till the pool becomes warm. Richo and I would stay in the pool till it become unbearable and then run off into the surf. Alli did not participate in this scared of having a heart attack and she wasn’t wrong. Your senses were so confused and your skin felt numb not to mention your hear palpitating out of your chest.

The other highlight of our holiday so far was the 2006 Whitianga Scallop Festival. Which sold out at 6000 tickets. Since the towns pop is 3000, this is like the biggest thing that will happen in Whitianga all year. So the day started off with us both feeling a touch seedy from the pub and karoke exploits of the nights before (Richo’s somewhat shithouse rendition of Sweet Home Alabama). As soon as you walk through the gates, (having waited in line for half and hour) you are presented with a glass on a rope to hang around your neck, and affronted by every imaginable scallop induced culinary creation known to mankind. You got ya “scallop with avocado, deep fried scallop, scallop with leek and onion pate, scallop mornay, scallop sushi, scallop kebabs, scallop patties, scallop and mussels frittas, scallop and scallop”….. you get the idea. Thus fulfiiling the healthy allocated lifetime quota of scallops designated to any individual. Thirty dozen scallops and three bottles of wine later, we were both quite festive and danced away the night. However the grand finale of the afternoon was the scallop shooter; two dirty scallops, 30mls of rank chardonnay, and two poor unsuspecting aussie’s all combined to produce one thoroughly disgusting experience… we’ll try and post you guys the evidence.

We’ll rap the blog up here for now, and try and post some shots tomorrow when we go into town, so until next time…. You stay classy san dieago,

Lots of love, Ebs and Richo