Ocean Sands Motel Tauranga

... shop filled with tracel tables and cardboard boxes) that they go round and round and they look at the same stuff over and over but I suppose on the plus side at least they are getting there gov recommended 10,000 steps a day. ( some of them could do with a little more exercise others look so skinny I fear the excersion could kill them).


They also buy stuff, alot of stuff, it is remarkable, truely aside from the disappointting fact taht Europe has ...

... on the Tuesday I got booked on and was there at the pier at 8:30am that morning! The trip is called Butlers as that's the name of the old sea dog who runs it. He has a pretty cool story as he used to be a hunter for 35 years until he decided he didn't want to kill animals anymore but wanted to help conserve them instead! The trip was on a large sail boat which Butler has adapted with a swim bar at the back of the boat that you hold on to and get pulled ...

... to dig a hole which fills with naturally hot water. This has to be done around low tide and we were a little late to the party. We hired our spade and wondered out only to find that the hot area (it moves from day to day) had already been thoroughly dug and had swarms of people lying in the holes. We managed to dip a toe in some of the warm water, but that was to be our lot. The following day we were still moving and stopped for a brief visit in ...

... getting back so had missed lunch, but there is always food to be  had, and then got some tea and sat out on the veranda overlooking the dock to see if I could see Alan and Kate return - I did.  They said the white water rafting was tame!  It was still sunny then, and sitting out there not having to worry about anything much was delightful.   Dinner tonight was great - our last - and we pulled out of Tauranga just as we were finishing. Our table companions have ...

... hill called Mount Maunganui, with excellent beaches either side. So we stopped off here for a bit for a drink and a chance to access Wi-Fi and check e-mails and update this blog site. We then headed for a look around Mount Maunganui and whilst we there a big cruise ship was in and was getting ready to head off to Auckland. Our campsite for the night was at nearby ...

... hard to be that good :) The rest of the day I just hung out at the house getting to know everyone. I got a tour of their 5 acre property which included some sheep chasing and later that night I learned how to play cribbage. If you don't know how to play this game I highly recommend it...its a lot of fun. Thats about it, it was good to finally have a relaxing day where I'm now constantly running all over the place. That's all folks! Chris

... been the most challenging of walks on this trip so far but it was without question the most humid and as a consequence the hottest !! Naturally when the pathes split we took the more difficult track and having once again climbed many steps we emerged at the summit with clear 360 Deg views around. While not over run there was a steady flow of people which we soon realised were mainly from the recently docked cruise liner we spied in the ...

... needed to stay ahead of them, and less than five minutes later they'd already overtaken me. I should've known they were fast since they started the trip after me and caught up with me. Oh well. Once I got there I realized it was still at least a half-hour hike to the beach, and my legs were really tired. Somehow, after a few hours of being on the beach, I was able to make the hike and bike back to the town. Yesterday, I took a bus to Mt. Maunganui in the town ...

... After our half hour was up we strolled back to the lobby and had an ice cream cone while we waited for everyone else. Everyone was so mellow and relaxed as they came back to join the group. Les said we had a little extra time for the trip back to the ship and took us back a different way. So many intersetions are roundabouts & he got into one of them and pretended to get stuck in in and had this bus going round in circles..lol...had us ...

... some of the requirements for growing and harvesting kiwi fruit - one of the country's major crops. We continued on to Wai-O-Tapu, almost missing the eruption of Lady Geyser. Once that was finished, we went to the park's entrance and began our walk through the thermal areas, where the boiling water and various chemicals produce pools and craters of amazing size and color. We quickly got used to ...