The Ohope Weekend

Date: Monday June 27, 2011

Time: 4:16 pm

Location: Taupo, NZ, The Short’s kitchen

New Zealand is a land full of towns and cities with strange names. This is because a lot of its culture and heritage is based around their indigenous native group of people called the Maori. So far, I’ve run into many unpronounceable names. For example, Rotorua, Tauranga, and Whakatane. Now, in the Maori language, when a word has “wh” it makes an “f” sound. So with that knowledge, I invite you to say “Whakatane” aloud…

Haha.

We also passed through a town called Matata. Someone had painted “hakuna” on the sign for the town. I kid you not. But I’m sure when the residents of the town saw that they just said, “No worries!” (Ba dum bum)

This weekend I went to a place called Ohope. When you say the name make sure you pronounce the “e” so that it sounds more like “Ohopey.”  Ohope is in the Bay of Plenty on the Beach. It is paradise. The ride to Ohope was interesting to say the least. The weather varied from light drizzle to torrential downpour with shocking and sudden strikes of lightening.

We stopped in Rotorua to have dinner at McDonalds, which is something more of a treat to Kiwi’s than it is to me. I was dissatisfied with my experience at McDonald’s for two reasons:

One, because I found a McDonald’s gift card on the floor of the Vancouver airport and I wanted to see if it had any money on it. Turns out, the card can only be used in Canada. Also, McDonald’s‘in New Zealand have no dollar menu!!! I had to buy an 8 dollar combo to save myself any sort of money if I wanted a full meal. Keep in mind, one New Zealand dollar is equal to 75 cents of the U.S. dollar, but still!

Two, because they wouldn’t give me a free refill on my coke! It would’ve cost me another $2.60 to get my coke refilled. Dumb.

On Saturday we spent a lazy morning sitting around reading magazines and laying in the sunshine that streamed through the window. By that afternoon we split up to do different outdoorsy things. Nicola and I went for a walk along the beach. I couldn’t help myself and I took off my boots so I could walk in the ocean water (which I later regretted because I was having trouble getting my feet dry and free of sand so I could put them back on).

Saturday evening we all got dressed up and went out in search of somewhere to eat. We settled on a restaurant called Cobb and Co. where I ordered a Mac’s Gold and a delicious plate of Cheese Tortellini. It’s strange to go to a restaurant and not recognize any of the beer or drink selection. The only name I recognized was Corona. But there was no Budweiser, Coor’s and certainly no Blue Moon (my favorite). So I asked the server for a light colored beer (which almost got lost in translation because she thought I meant diet) and what I received was actually quite nice (to use a word in the Kiwi vernacular).

 Sunday was a shopping day. We went to a mall in Tauranga where I spent too much money. But I figured, what the hey! What better excuse is there to spend money on clothes than being in a foreign country and having the ability to say “Oh, you like it? I actually bought it in New Zealand!” Also, I found a black jacket that I’ve been wanting for ages for only $29.95! Score!

I’ve recently discovered that I quite enjoy Nutella (Sorry Emy for doubting you). Nutella is a chocolatey spread made of hazelnuts. It’s pretty much an excuse to put frosting on toast. Today I thought it would be a fantastic idea to combine peanut butter and Nutella on my toast to make my own Reese’s (of sorts). It was. Lizzy thought this was a disgusting idea and went on to say that peanut butter cups, and by extension Reese’s, were disgusting. I was shocked! Everyone loves Reese’s!

I refused to accept this and made Lizzy taste my delicious treat. I made a deal with her that if she tasted my treat I would taste Marmite. I believe I got the short end of the stick on that one because, from what I understand, Marmite is a salty tasting yeast spread. It’s brown and looks yucky. I still have yet to deliver on my promise. Perhaps I’ll find a way out of it…