Sat 7th Sep – Farmers Markets and Tiffany’s

We planned a lazy start to the day but were still awake at 7am with the sun shining brightly.  Today we headed back up to Waimea (about 20 miles away) to visit the two farmers markets they have up there.

The first one was full of yummy foods to sample and we came away with a berry turn over, two different types of jams, a macadamia nut and honey tart, and home made fresh rosemary and garlic pasta.  The guy that was selling the jam was a true salesman, every time we opened our mouth he put a spoon with a new type of jam to try in it!  We ended up buying the passionfruit jam which he was telling us can also be used to make drinks or smoothies, it really was yummy.  We also got a Strawberry Jam which must have been really tasty because neither Q or I are huge fans of strawberry jam!

The Macadamia tart is really yummy, like  a pecan pie but made with macadamia.  No fruit or vegies purchased but lots of lovely sweet stuff.

AT the second market we bought some pawpaw, lettuce, kale (I have always wanted to try it) and had lunch.  There was lots of yummy food stalls.  Okay it was 10.30 in the morning so very early for lunch but we had had a very light breakfast in preparation and the food just smelled so good. Q had a beef curry, and I had teriyaki chicken and rice from Aunty Annies, which is an institution at the markets.  She makes her own sauce (which we also bought) and you can get beef, pork or chicken.  Portion sizes were huge, I only ate half of it.

From here we drove up to Waipo Valley lookout.  You can walk down into the valley however I had made the decision I wasn’t going to do this as it is a really step walk down and of course back up.  I did suggest Quentin could however he chose not to!  Still these pictures will do.

After dropping our farmers market purchases at home we headed to the Kings Shops about 10 mins away.  They have a Tiffany’s there, I knew what I was doing.    Quentin bought some new Oakley Sunnies and I looked at several bracelets at Tiffany’s but couldn’t make up my mind so came away with nothing…..this time….next time….who knows.

Seeing it was so hot at the shops we headed to the marble creamery ice cream store, where you select the ice cream flavour you want and then what you want added to it, then they mix it all up on a freezing cold marble slab.  We both ended up with a scoop of strawberry and a scoop of white chocolate.  He added marshmallows, M & M’s and gummi bears to his (gummi bears – I ask you), I added marshmallows, nestle crunch chocolate and macadamia nuts.  Very yummy, very big and very little change out of $20.  But did a great job of cooling us down!

Home and a swim in the pool at the resort made for a very relaxing day.  The Pool is beautifully warm, no “Argh” moment as you hope in, just straight in.  There was only a couple of other people down there so very enjoyable. Also spotted some of the wildlife which initially looked like a big rat. Turned out to be a baby mongoose. It’s mum took off, and was calling to it to join her.

Now for a relaxing evening with meat sauce and our rosemary and garlic pasta for dinner.  Yum.