We might have believed that yesterday’s improved weather in Auckland by the time we sailed was a harbinger of what we’d experience today in Tauranga (say TARE rong a), only a 2.5 hour drive south, but we were wrong. So were the weather forecasts for today. Though we had a sunny start and end to our day, most of our time in port was spent with rain under a cloudy sky.
Yesterday in Auckland, Paul and Marlene, since it was their first visit to that city, had arranged an excursion on the pier, through Shore Trips and Tours, called an Overview of Auckland. They were sufficiently enough impressed that, after contacting us, they booked an excursion for the four of us today in Tauranga called Tauranga Highlights. It was a comfortable 3.5 hour tour, not an all day outing to the geothermal area of Rotorua, which is also popular in this area. We were to meet them at 8:45am on Deck 5 and leave the ship together.
We had a sunny start to our day
Tauranga Harbour with Mt. Maunganui in the background
We met up with the tour company just outside the secured area of the port terminal, and were directed to a comfortable 24 or so passenger bus, very new, with an excellent audio system that allowed us to hear everything our driver (also our guide) was saying. Before we even set off, rain began to fall and, unfortunately, it continued through most of our tour. We started out by driving through the resort town of Maunganui, which is actually where the cruise ship berth is located. This is a narrow strip of land with extinct volcano Mt. Maunganui at its end just across the harbor from the town of Tauranga. You might remember that we climbed to the top of Mt. Maunganui during our visit two years ago, and the views from the top made it well worthwhile.
Maunganui is a charming little town full of vacationers (except that here they’re called holiday makers). With a long beach on the harbor side of town and endless beaches on the ocean sides as well as on Matakana Island just to the north, this is a surfing paradise, though fishing is extremely popular, too. Our guide told us the water is not warm enough for swimming until February or March, though the many surfers we saw today handle it just fine with their wetsuits.
Once we’d made a run through Maunganui, we crossed the bridge over to the town of Tauranga. We were surprised to learn that Tauranga, not Auckland, is home to New Zealand’s largest freight port. Apparently, decades ago, Auckland chose not to tarnish their City of Sails image and strong association with the America’s Cup yacht race by having too large a container port, and Tauranga was happy to step up. It is the area’s largest employer, and hasn’t seemed to hurt their tourist image, either. The bridge we crossed to get to Tauranga was built about that time and cut the driving time from Mt. Maunganui to Tauranga down from nearly two hours to about 20 minutes.
We drove past The Elms Mission Station, that G and I had visited when we were last year, through Tauranga to a Manuka honey shop, where we were all happy to have an ice cream or candy made with the famous honey (with antibacterial properties). We drove past the old fort of Monmouth Redoubt before our next stop of the Gate Pa Battle Site, a fascinating part of Tauranga history where the British fought the Maori and came out second best.
Manuka honey bee hive
Manuka honeycomb
Maori carvings at the Gate Pa Battle Site
We stopped at a kiwifruit farm, and learned that, however associated with New Zealand the fruit is now, it actually originated in China and was called the Chinese gooseberry. New Zealand began to export it around 1960, during the height of the Cold War, and Chinese gooseberry was not a very popular name. Instead they chose to name it after their famous, non-flying native bird and the term by which they themselves had become known. And that is how kiwifruit got its name. Now, regardless of where in the world it is grown, it is called kiwifruit. Kiwifruits do not grow on tress in orchards, but on vines, much like grapes. At this time of year, they are just tiny closed flowers, but by April or May will be ready for harvest.
Kiwis growing on vines
Each flower will become a kiwi ready for harvest by April/May
The rain stopped just long enough for us to drive to the top of Minden Lookout for a beautiful view of the Bay of Plenty (so named by Captain Cook because it offered so much in the way of food and supplies to reprovision his ships). However, long before the Europeans arrived, the Maori were completing the last phase of the Polynesian migration by arriving in this area from Hawaii, the Marquesas and even Easter Island (Rapa Nui). They called the land k own as New Zealand Aotearoa, or land of the long white cloud.
View of the Bay of Plenty from Minden Lookout
The area has a temperate climate with about 60” of precipitation each year
Panorama view of the Bay of Plenty
We eventually headed back to Tauranga where we had a yummy fish and chip lunch (included) at Bobby’s Fresh Fish Market, considered one of the best fish and chip restaurants in all of New Zealand. It certainly lived up to its reputation, though the rain returned while we were sitting at table outside and we had to all huddle into its covered shelter area to finish our meals.
Not camping and hiking in New Zealand;
instead it’s camping and tramping
Seafood lunch at Bobby’s Fresh Fish market served on paper by the water
We were back on the ship before 2pm, and it was a perfect tour for us today. Thank you, Paul and Marlene, for finding it. I’m ashamed to admit that we did go to the Horizon Court Buffet upon our return for a hot beverage (and maybe a dessert or two were consumed by one of us). Still, at 4:30pm we were in Club Fusion for the Elite Lounge and then sat down to dinner in the DaVinci Dining Room at 5:15pm. As I’ve said before, hunger has nothing to do with it.
Day 22 dinner menu, page 1
Day 22 dinner menu, page 2
Day 22 dessert menu
Coconut Langoustine Ceviche
Bouillabaisse
Captain Lawes made an announcement as we were on our way to dinner that, due to the very high winds we were experiencing (by then the sun had returned (typical New Zealand, it’s sunny in the afternoons here)), we were actually unable to safely leave the port of Tauranga and make our way through the narrow passage out of the Bay of Plenty. By the time the winds were scheduled to die down, the area’s strong low tide would prevent us from leaving. It would be 3am before the Ruby Princess could set sail, over 9 hours behind schedule. Not knowing that this would do to our arrival in Akaroa the day after tomorrow, I sent an email to the tour company we will be using that day, Pohatu Penguins.
Tonight’s Princess Theater performance was a show by Pearson and Harvey, a comedy-varsity duo out of Australia that we’ve seen several times in the past. Still, they have a fun show and we enjoyed it very much. Though we could have left the ship during the evening (Tauranga security was working overtime guarding the port entrance), the high winds discouraged us from doing that. Instead, we finished the evening listening to some live music by guitarist Courtney Visser in the Wheelhouse Bar and then quickly falling asleep (before this post was even finished...again!).
Day 22 Princess Patter, page 1
Day 22 Princess Patter, page 2
Day 22 Princess Patter, page 3
Day 22 Princess Patter, page 4