James' turn again... after last night's ridiculously LARGE feast at Side Street Inn (but ooooh baby was it amazing!) I was in no way hungry for anything at all come the morning. All the same, we had been driving past this little bakery where all the local appeared to go each morning so we stopped for a bite on our way out of town.
They had an amazing selection of pastries and the like - everything you'd expect to find but with a Hawaiian twist. Pinapple danish pastries, crossiants stuffed with mango flavoured cream... HUBBA HUBBA. We bought the smallest sized pastries we could find then we hit the road.
After paying for our pastries and taking a few snaps like the diligent tourists we are we were on the road to the Macadamia Nut Farm on the eastern coast...
Let me tell you - this place was incredible. A tropical farm that grows / produces / sells macadamia nuts, coconuts, cocao beans and coffee beans. There were plump little Hawaiian (Samoan actually) guys in red skirts wielding machetes and a sick sense of humour who give tours of the facility - hilarious.
Our tour guide was a Samoan guys called Mickawalla-something, which got cut down to Mickawalla, which got cut down to Micka, which by the end of the tour just got cut down to Mike. Great bloke, full of chat and only a minuature red scarf-like thing to protect us from his little Samoan family.
Besides Mike's tour and getting see all of Nature's fruit on full display in only slightly contrived patches of the landscape for our viewing pleasure, the best part for me was the movie trivia. This place gets rented out by movie and TV production companies... below is the building they used as the Hukilau Cafe in 50 First Dates (they lied to us damn it, LIED!! I wanted to actually eat at the real thing... breath James, breath...).
Others to note... Pirates of the Caribbean 4 just spent 2 months filming in the lagoon. The opening and closing scenes on the beach from Along Came Polly were filmed here. Lost is practially camped out here 24/7 and a few other movies like Godzilla and Jurassic Park were filmed here too. I was the kid in the proverbial candy shop. Loved it!
Why am I hugging Mike? Hmm... I don't know... what with all the movie trivia, his supple arms and that little red skirt... what the hell. I'm on vacation people!! To be fair, he instructed me to pose that way, I like a moron fell for the one-liner that was coming afterwards about me wanting to propose to him and not Ruthie... anyway, I thought it best not to squash the little half-naked chap in front of his half-naked friends. I thought it wouldn't have been very sporting of me. :o)
Next came the coconut show (and I'm not talking about what happened to Mike's little Samoan family when a gust of wind rushed him from behind...). Mike showed us how to open coconuts, how to squeeze milk from the white coconut meat and the best part...?? He made fire from just two bits of wood and a modest amount of elbow grease. Great display!
And of course the fire ceremony:
After saying goodbye to the Nut Farm (there's a double-entendre there without having to think on it too hard :o) we went to track down a BBQ joint that was recommended to us by the Nutters... Uncle BoBo's... another gem of a find. Ridiculously cheap, ridiculously tasty! Yummmm... I'm doing a Homer Simpson right now with my tongue hanging out of the side of my mouth as I think back to how good the slow pulled pork with BBQ sauce and coleslaw on the side tasted...
Mmm... Slllllow Pullllled Poooork... arrrrghhhhh.... amazing.
Photo below? Don't ask... like the good boyfriend I do as I'm told...
Next on our trip up the eastern shore was a bit of a let down, the Polynesian Cultural Center... $40 each to walk around a few grass/mud huts with only a modest number of sound-bites about the 7 polynesian cultures and a dancing show on water (which was actually pretty good but nothing we hadn't seen before).
But... I did try to learn how to swing my balls like the Tongans do it... see the video clip... shortly afterwards I smashed my white balls into my actual balls and all Ruthie could hear was me yelping, "man down! man down!"...
The canoe show...
This is the face I get when I put my foot down and say no McDonalds for lunch...
Yes... and there's more....! The day wasn't over yet. 5pm at the Turtle Bay Resort we checked in for our couple massage... by the beach, side by side, sounds (and views) of the ocean and the monster waves crashing at the shore. Nice. But the robe didn't really fit my 6ft 6in frame... and just 50 yards away, directly in front of the open faced massage area, a bunch of dudes on their boards getting a pretty good show!
Not a big of fan of massages, I have to admit, but the whole experience was pretty terrific and it gave Ruthie an amazing glow (although part of that might have been the blushing from trying to not show her girls to the surfing out front! ;)
Sunset at Turtle Bay, post massage, post first cocktail of the evening...
Finally...! To end the day we took in a good old fashioned, 100% yank-tastic cheeseburger and fries... LOVED IT!!
Another great day with you Ruthie Baker - bring on the next!!! xoxo
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