Day 41: Tauranga

We will always remember Thanksgiving Day 2017 for many reasons: the perfect weather we enjoyed in Tauranga (say Tow-wronger), the spectacular scenery that started right at the ship’s gangway but most especially for the fact that we survived a climb to the top of Mt. Maunganui (Maori name of Mauao, but known locally as The Mount), and, even more impressively, made it back down alive. 

After our short day yesterday, I spent some time reviewing our options for today. When I was here in 2014 with my friend Sheila (hi Sheila!), we did a full day excursion taking in the geysers of Rotorua, about 100km away, the Agrodome where we saw sheep shearing and learned about New Zealand agriculture, saw a Maori folkloric show and toured a town buried by a volcano in the early 1900s. It was a very long and most enjoyable day, but I knew it was not one that G would enjoy. He was underimpressed with the idea of the geysers of Rotorua after several visits to Yellowstone National Park, we’ve already enjoyed the Maori folkloric activities offered on the ship, he hates long rides in vans on group tours, and sheep shearing?? No way.  But I knew he would love climbing the 2 to 3 million old lava done overlooking the port of Tauranga. Surprisingly, I wanted to climb it too. 

The weather today was the best of the good weather we’ve enjoyed all cruise. The brilliantly blue sky was cloudless, and, after a quick breakfast in the Horizon Court Buffet, we left the ship wearing shorts and T-shirts.  Though our itinerary stated that we docked in Tauranga, the port is actually in the small holiday town named Mt. Maunganui after the mountain, basically an isthmus sand bar connecting the lava dome to Tauranga. There was a shuttle offered (I’m not sure of the fare) into downtown Tauranga, but we simply walked out of the port and along the harbor beach to the base of The Mount. There is another beach located right on the ocean just a few blocks away, but the harbor beach was the place for all sorts of water toy rentals like SUPs and kayaks.

The beach along the harbor

Harbor beach and the mall

My favorite kind of shadow

We reached the base of The Mount and were helped by signs showing the different trails in the park. One trail simply circles the base of the lava dome at water level, connecting the several pocket beaches at its base. But we were looking to reach the summit, and took a 4WD trail that started out nicely gentle and shaded but quickly had us doing some serious climbing in the sun. The surface was loose crushed shells on hard packed dirt, which was certainly easily than the rockier path to the top of Mt. Tapioi on Raiatea (remember that death march?), but it got really steep towards the summit. 

Entrance to the park

The Golden Princess at the Port of Tauranga

Getting steeper

Yep, that’s me ;-)

We hiked uphill for about 75 minutes, helped along by the increasingly beautiful views along the way. We saw numerous bays and peninsulas and islands, many bordered by white sand beaches. When we reached the summit, the 360 degree views made it all worthwhile. We had clear views of the narrow isthmus of the town of Mt. Maunganui, with the harbor beach and Golden Princess on one side and the long, long stretch of the ocean beach on the other. 

Matakana Island 

Love that long stretch of beach. 

Mt. Maunganui Beach on the Pacific

Golden Princess and the harbor beach

There was an alternative trail down from the summit that consisted mostly of stairs without handrails, and, though we contemplated going back that way, opted instead to return on the same trail on which we had walked up. We had seen most people returning that way. Well, the downhill is always the killer. The crushed shell surface was so slick that it was a real caution in places. Still, I made it with just a little blood (I slipped twice, but it was so steep that I really just sat down hard. My left elbow took the brunt both times, and I have war wounds to show for it), minimal sweat and no tears. Just The Mount portion of our walk, with some time at the top for photos took about three hours. 

As we returned to the port, we saw these motorcycle-type vehicles that we’ve seen offering tours in all the New Zealand ports. They have a motorcycle front with seats for two or four passengers in the back. They are considered convertible sports cars, and so helmets aren’t required but they do have full seat belts. We’ve been intrigued by them, but I think it was more the opportunity to sit down for the 25-minute tour that had us joining another couple for a ride ($60 NZD/ $42 USD per couple). We rode down the entire length of both the harbor and ocean beaches and also saw the main street of Mt. Maunganui with its shops and cafes. Next time we’re here we’ll explore the ocean beach, weather permitting. 

When we boarded the ship, I synced my Fitbit to see that we had walked over 19000 steps today. Go us!  We were hungry but it was close enough to dinner that we just crashed until it was time to get cleaned up. There was a small Thanksgiving display in the Bernini Dining Room, but nothing Thanksgiving related on the menu. I had a chilled pumpkin curry soup, salad and one of my favorite entrees, garbanzo beans and tofu in a tomato sauce. Oh, and apple ginger sorbet for dessert. ‘Cause I deserved it!

We watched from the Promenade Deck as the last excursion buses returned to the ship a little late, about 6:45pm, and the gangways were removed, and went up to Skywalkers for sail away at 7pm and then sunset. We were just too tired to get to either of the two shows tonight, impressionist Keith Scott in the Vista Lounge (we’ve seen him at least twice already) and production show Let Us Entertain You in the Princess Theater (ditto). Instead we enjoyed the views of The Mount as we sailed past (“We climbed THAT!”) and the sun until it disappeared behind the distant mountains overlooking the Bay of Plenty.