Mt Maunganui & Natural Hot Springs

To give everyone an idea who doesn't know or isn't familiar, this is a birds eye view from the Mount of the thin strip of land known as Mt. Maunganui. A magnificent stretch of beach and one of the fastest growing populations in NZ.

 Photo credit* Rambo Estrada

 This was probably one of the longest days during our week's holiday in NZ. With Rags flat and swell beckoning on the East Coast I decided to check out an old haunt, Mt Maunganui, where I used to hitchhike to and learnt to Lifeguard at back in my high school days with friends Chris and Justin (Merp). The place has changed unbelievably so over the years. What was once a sleepy surf town with classic kiwi baches and spacious backyards is now a lively happening place with massive cruise ships filled with tourists from Australia and beyond as well as sky high condominiums and apartments lining the main beach. However, it still hasn't lost that cool beach vibe that attracted me to it back in the day and we even managed to score some fun uncrowded waves on Main Beach in the middle of summer. I have a hunch that the island across the harbour was firing that day which may explain the lineup....but you need a boat to access that. Maybe next time.

Me and Mum checking out her new(ish) camper before we left.

 A chicken pie for breakfast from the BP servo on the way.

 Top of the Kaimai Ranges looking back over the Waikato plains and Hobbitville (Lord of the Rings set)

 We're here!

 Shinya and Ken waxing up Main Beach with the Mount behind them. (FREE Parking STILL!)

 The Mount Beach looking North to the Surf Club.

 The Mount Beach looking South to Leisure Island and Shark Alley where we used to run out to, jump off and swim in for training.

 Cracking the lip on a nice juicy righthander.

 Beach volleyball crew were training hard for an upcoming contest.

 Damn tasty Ginger Beer after a long surf sesh in the sun.

 The most expensive sandwich I've ever bought. What was I thinking?! I was too drained from surfing to look any further. Still, it tasted fine.

On the road again to Rotorua going past the local train.

 Our semi-secret natural hot spring just out of Rotorua.

 Shinya enjoying the 36 degree water after a long fun day in the sun surfing.

 BYO Beers were the icing on the cake!

Huge thanks to my long time mate, Chris, for taking care of us in Rotorua.  Arigatou from us all!!

Moonlight Surf

Holidays started 8pm yesterday and go until the end of the week. With a full moon and good banks at Seaside in Kamogawa, the call was made to kick things off with a moonlight surf. No better way to beat the crowds and cool off after a hot day at the office! Dave called a High School student of ours (and neighbour) and he was in, too.
We hit the water @9:30pm and despite there being a bit of cloud action and haze dulling the light, we all caught some keepers. The waves were pure glass, there was phosphorus in the water dancing around like little angels and the water was warm as! K's mum and dad came down to check it out and took this pic of us enjoying a post surf beer!

Check her blog HERE for cool handcrafted designs and food to die for.

KIYOSHI KANEDA typhoon #9

Kiyoshi Kaneda is a charger! He spends a lot of time here in Kamogawa and rides Grace Surfboards. Super mellow and friendly on land, the kid's an inspiration to many in the water. This is a classic shot of him taking on the elements during typhoon #9 right here in JAPAN.
Photo courtesy of Kirby Fikunaga @ Go Naminori.

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A new phone and Soba

Well, it happened. My cell phone for the last 4 years finally gave up the ghost. It had been through a lot, dropped numerous times, traveled to Hawaii, NZ, Australia and around Japan and kept coming back for more. It died peacefully with a nice blacked out screen. The result, I lost all my data (numbers, mail addresses, etc). So, it's a good chance to spring clean and start over. And this is what I got..

The new(ish) white iPhone 4 smart phone. The number is the same as before as is my mail address. If you read this and want to be back in my contacts, please mail me your number and include your name. Arigatougozaimasu!

Being a Softbank customer, I had to go all the way down to Tateyama to sort out all the phone crap. On the way down I stopped at a Soba restaurant in Emi on Route 128. The Zaru Soba Set was ¥900 and was super delicious, just what we felt like. Check it out if you're going past, I recommend it.

Pre-work Surf

Yesterday was a beautiful summer day. The sun was out, the wind was light and there were waves courtesy of typhoon #10 sitting to the East of Japan pulsing in fun ground swell. Dave snapped this photo of me enjoying the moment. Just need to bend my old creaky knees a bit more...

Mahalo for the photo Dave!

Check his website 'KamogawaPower' for a bunch of cool photo galleries around town, daily blog, photography services and more...

Just another day ...

 The palm trees in front of our place are blooming and the bees are loving it.

 This is how we roll in da 'gawa. Local on her pimped 'mama chari' bicycle after a surf.

A friendly visitor popping by for a wee chat.

Fresh Basil Pesto

I planted a bunch of basil about 2 months ago in a planter box on our balcony and they've really taken off. Not wanting it to go to waste, I decided to try and make some fresh Basil Pesto. A good friend came over and showed me how to make it. It's actually a piece of cake and only took about 3 minutes!

 This is all you need: lots of fresh basil leaves, some nuts, garlic and (not pictured) grated Parmesan cheese, a little salt, some olive oil and a little sugar as well as a blender.

 K-kun blending away and hey presto. It's done.

 This is about a third of what we made in one batch. Good for pasta, pizza, seasoning chicken, etc.

Below is a little pasta we cooked up for lunch. Just add salt and pepper for seasoning as you please. Simple and delicious with great aroma.

R.I.P. Analogue TV

The date for change has been creeping ever closer and closer and was suddenly upon us this past Sunday. At 12 noon, the switch was flicked and analogue TV came to a peaceful end. There was not much trumpeting of this going on, but one or two of the channels here did a little recap of the history of TV here in Japan and a countdown. Fortunately for us, we updated our old dilapidated TV to one of the new Sharp Aquos LED digital TVs several months ago (and never looked back). There's been an ongoing campaign to raise awareness (as in other countries), but I'm sure some people would've been caught out. It also means that the TV on our car Navi is now defunct (not that we ever watched it anyway).

 10, 9, 8, ....

 0!!!

The 'blue' screen that now appears on analogue TVs

Wedding Anniversary

 

English Link HERE

 

We celebrated our wedding anniversary the other night by treating ourselves to a delightful meal @ The GUNJO restaurant at Kamogawa Grand Hotel. The food and atmosphere were ideal as sat back, soaked up the occasion and enjoyed the moment. 

 A toast to start things off. Thanks for the good times and may they continue!

 The 'Surf & Turf', sirloin steak, abalone, scallop and calamari with a coconut cream sauce hit the spot!

 Dessert

 

Pumpkin and spinach salad

Tonight's dinner

It was another hot day here today, so I was craving a healthy salad with dinner tonight. When I was back in NZ recently, mum made a couple of really good salads and gave me some inspiration to search for something new and experiment. I came across this salad and changed it up a bit. I threw in a sweet potato to supplement the pumpkin, exchanged roasted cashews for the pine nuts, topped it with some cubed cream cheese and added a touch of balsamic vinegar in the dressing. It was a WINNER and will no doubt pop up again on the menu again this summer.

HERE'S THE RECIPE:

Preparation Time

10 minutes

Cooking Time

30 minutes

Ingredients (serves 6)

• 600g butternut pumpkin, deseeded, peeled, cut into wedges
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 tsp honey
• 2 tsp sesame seeds
• 1 tbs fresh lemon juice
• 1 tbs honey, extra
• 2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tsp wholegrain mustard
• 1 x 150g pkt baby spinach leaves
• 1 x 75g pkt toasted pine nuts

Method

1. Preheat oven to 220°C. Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper. Place the pumpkin in a large bowl. Drizzle with oil and honey. Season with salt and pepper. Gently toss until the pumpkin is well coated. Place in a single layer on the lined tray. Bake, turning once during cooking, for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and sprinkle evenly with the sesame seeds. Return to oven and bake for 5 minutes or until the seeds are lightly toasted. Remove from oven and set aside for 30 minutes to cool.
2. Combine the lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, mustard and extra honey in a screw-top jar and shake until well combined. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Place the pumpkin, spinach and pine nuts in a large bowl. Drizzle with the dressing and gently toss until just combined. Serve immediately.

Source

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/14443/pumpkin+and+spinach+salad

Calm b4 the storm

 This is the view from our balcony (Sunday, 17th). Blue skies and light sea breezes. Below is what we have in store for us this week, Typhoon #6. Wednesday and Thursday are going to be wet and wild going by the charts.

JUN's 40th

One of my great friends here in Japan, JUN, turned 40 recently. The weather was picture perfect and the grill was brought out to celebrate BBQ style!! We usually celebrate our birthdays at the same time as they fall within a week or so of each other along with another friend's daughter. This year was special though.
Aiko made a special lei for Jun and Kona from locally grown fresh flowers and a bunch of good friends came over with food and drinks. There were lamb chops, tandori chicken drumsticks, high-grade beef, lots of sausages, spam musabi, soba and somen, hormone (intestines), snacks and salads galore. A feast fit for a 40th celebration!
A huge Mahalo for everyone taking the time to join us and bring bits and pieces for the grill making the day so enjoyable.

 Beautiful handmade leis

 BBQ getting outta control

 Hormone

 Birthday boy playing with the kids on the 'Slackline'

 The ladies and babies

Last ones standing

Lucky Day

The weather was picture perfect and there weren't many people about, but the waves were small so I decided to go down to SURF SHOP BLOOM and rent the stand up paddle board to cruise on. Maki was there and gave me a hand to get it all sorted and then I was off. I headed down past seaside and Toshizou-san was taking pictures of some surfers there and took one of me as I cruised past.

When I got down to the Grand Hotel I came across a stingray, probably about 1.5m wing span, and followed him down the coast another 100-200m before I lost him (or he lost me). The waves were starting to take shape so instead of continuing down to Maruki as I had planned, I found a spot by myself and tried catching a few. Good thing there wasn't anybody about as those boards are big and hard to maneuver. However, the paddle cracked as I paddled into one and so after putting it back together in a makeshift manner I slowly made my way back to return the board. It just so happened that another friend had just finished diving for the day and he gave me a couple of abalone (ありがとう！).

I went home dropped them off, picked up my longboard and went for a surf at seaside with good friend Ken from DONYA. We traded waves for a while with next to nobody around and had so much fun. The water was so warm there was no need for wetties, too. That evening, I went to Ken's restaurant and he prepared the abalone. One was sashimi and the other was cooked in a garlic butter sauce.

Abalone Sashimi

Garlic Butter Abalone & chef @ DONYA

DONYA's new drink menu & kimchee

A near perfect day! Thanks to EVERYBODY that made it so!!!!