Tauranga
Trip Start
Feb 25, 2008
1
6
18
Trip End
Mar 08, 2008
Tauranga,
New Zealand
Friday, February 29, 2008
The journey took about 2 and ahalf hours, but what a trek, lovely scenery, through mountains, planes and gorges. we stopped off at Ngatea for a bit of lunch. the town just appearred from no-where in the planes between the mountains. It was like a town you would imagine in the US midwest, one street through and it's gone !
Not long after the stop off we were back in the mountains and passed throgh a magnificent gorge, like cheddar gorge, but 20 times bigger. Loads of Palm trees, massive ferns and huge trees.
Through the mountains was Waihi, where the Martha Mine is, the largest Gold mine in New Zealand, and what a hole that was, OMG, it was huge ! This is the mine that Billy Connolly visited on his tour
View from the top of Mount Manganui
.We eventually arrived in Tauranga, but as our maps didn't have the new bypass on them, we ended up 10 blocks away in the centre of town, so instead of an easy route in, we found ourself zig zagging around the town trying to find our Motel. We were impressed with the town centre though, everything you need, even loads of girls clothes shops, so Emma would be happy here !
We eventually found the Motel and checked into their 'Feature' room. A fantastic room overlooking the harbour, the biggest of the 4 they have, very posh ! We had a long chat with the british owner Paul, about moving over and gained some valuable information.
Once checked in we went back into town for a late lunch and an appointment with an employment agency and and a visit to a company that oversees industry in the area and what is available, good contacts to make in the area. and yes we did visit those clothes shops to pick up a couple of tops for Emma !
Once lunch had gone down, we headed for Mt Manganui, the volcanic mountain at the head of the Tauranga harbour. It looked easy enough to climb, from a distance, but got bigger and bigger the nearer we got. It was actually huge ! In the car park, whilst changing foot wear a few older couples walked past ans asked if we were going to the top, as if they thought we might not manage, so we thought if they can do it, so can we
Fern on Mt Manganui
. So we set off up the 4x4 track. It was a wide track, but very steep in places. After about 45 mins, we reached the summit. What a view, picture postcard. you could see for miles and miles, beach as far as you could see.There were a few paragliders up there, one of which almost took Claire out when he came whizing across the mountain top.
And then it happened, OMG, I looked around, and what did I see ? I've travelled half way around the world, up a mountain, and I see some South Korean Guy in a Man Utd Shirt !!! Dear oh Dear !
We took a different way down, a narrow walkers path, but loads and loads of steps, we reckon over 300 and was very hard work on the calfs, they were like jelly by the bottom of the mountain. We had a wander on the beach and cooled our feet in the see then headed off to Papamoa, just down the coast, to visit Dave, a guy I used to work with a couple of years ago.
We eventually found his house, a nice place in the suburbs, a 4 bedroom bungalow they had built about 18 months ago. Very nice, he's doing well for himself.
They took us to a local bar for some food and a few drinks and a long chat about anything to do with moving to New Zealand. The bar was packed when we arrived, but as soon as the Rugby had finished, all the Kiwi's went home, it was nearly empty by 9:30, and Friday night aswell !
We found out quite a lot of stuff from their experiences here, a very valuable session with them, and of course nice to see Dave again after spending so much time emailing him questions !
It turned out to be a late night, we didn't get back to the motel until about 11:30, we must be getting over the jet lag by now then !
