Whitianga Scallop Festival

This weekend we headed to Whitianga with our friends Darryl & Alistair for the annual Scallop Festival, which celebrates the start of the recreational scallop collecting season on 1 September. Somewhere between 80,000 - 100,000 scallops were consumed on the day!




There were about 100 stalls serving scallops cooked (or raw) in various ways - the signature dish being scallops encrusted in macadamia nuts, and numerous wine and beer stalls. All the local clubs, schools etc had stalls as fund raising opportunities.





One of the highlights was the schuck off between TV chef Al Brown (on the left), famous for his Hunger for the Wild show, and Whitianga's local councillor. No surprise that the chef won.




We had a fantastic time despite the weather attempting to be miserable, and thoroughly enjoyed all the scallops and tasting local wines.





The scariest part of the festival was the Scallop Band - musicians dressed up as scallops, fish, sharks and a deep sea diver - very bizarre!

North Harbour v Waikato

This afternoon we went to support our local rugby side North Harbour just down the road from us - a great little stadium though rather empty! Both Harbour and Waikato had yet to find a win this season so we expected a scrappy game.



A couple of the All Blacks had been released to play in the game - their class shone through. And after a nail biting finish, Harbour finished winners 15-10.

Castor Bay

After weeks of stormy, wet and windy weather we have finally had a lovely sunny day so decided to head to the beach. As we had never been to Castor Bay this was our choice today - a few bays south from us down the coast. And this is the view over to Milford beach.




Whilst this is the view across the Hauraki Gulf to Rangitoto.