Each week in indulge, radio host, celebrant and MC Will Johnston muses on his indulgent life in the Bay of Plenty
Someone once told me the best thing you can do on Waitangi Weekend is to do things that make you thankful that you live in a country that, for all intents and purposes, is at peace. You should take advantage of its beauty and the beautiful people in it.
So I got really drunk and went to a rock concert.
Let me break down the Waitangi Weekend I just had. Side note: You should've taken the Monday off, what were you thinking?
I went on a 36-hour boys' trip to Auckland and the Coromandel.
My mates Rob and Jahl both have awesome lives. Exceptionally cool wives, a couple of awesome lil kids each, solid jobs they both enjoy and provide for their families financially and they live in a couple of pretty cool places.
However, every now and then 'Uncle Will' gets involved and drags them away for a cheeky wee bit of man time!
So we went to the Foo Fighters at Mt Smart in Auckland last Saturday night and got so soaked by the rain that I felt like I was watching Dave Grohl from the comfort of my own shower. With 50,000 other people in it.
To be fair, lots of them got so wet they removed most of their clothing because it was literally pointless too! You know that gross feeling when your clothes are wet and sticking to your back? And then it drips down your bum? Then you need to pee? Yup, that. Six hours of that.
Front of pic is Jahl, in the yellow is Rob, and Will is top left. Photo / Supplied
Despite the weather, it was all more than worth it. The occasional look over to the boys who were dancing (not even in a dad-like way) with massive smiles on their faces and fully engrossed in the music was worth the ticket price alone for me!
Then we dragged our sorry asses out of bed on Sunday and went to The Leadfoot Festival on Rod Millen's property - so worth the trip to Hahei. Watching a bunch of different cars from all eras race literally up Rod's driveway in a hill climb event was super cool. Almost made me forget about my hangover. Almost.
Is it bad to go on about how amazing the food was at a car event, instead of the cars/racing? 'Double Dutch Fries' were worth the trip to Hahei alone. Also, is there some kind of code I'm not aware of that 75 per cent of all men between 20-40 years of age and in to motor racing must have some kind of beard/Ray-Bans/beige shorts/singlet/too-cool-for-school/slightly-hipster combo going on?
I've missed that memo, hard. But I'm completely sweet with that. Beards are itchy. I've just now realised I'm old. Ah well. I'll settle in to my complaining like the long-time resident of Pilot Bay that I aspire to be one day.
The weekend was rounded off with the last few days hanging out with my sis and her tribe of tiny humans before they went home to Wellington. I front-packed a baby and walked to a café to get an almond-milk flat white from my house out the Mount.
I love and hate myself in equal parts for that sentence.
Hopefully all of this is what the signatories on the Treaty had in mind when they scribbled their deets almost 180 years ago. I hope so, cos I'm pretty happy with my life in the Bay ... And it's partly thanks to them that I have it.
• Will Johnston is the local 9am-3pm host for The Hits Bay of Plenty 95FM. He's also a celebrant and MC.
