Day 27 - January 30, 2025 - Thursday - Tauranga, NZ

Our ship docked in Tauranga, NZ this morning.  Tauranga is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty and is the 5th most populous city of New Zealand with population of about 162,000.  Rotorua, the "advertised destination" is about 40 miles inland, about an hours drive away.

One thing I would have loved to do while here was to visit the geothermal region, about an hour inland.  Unfortunately, the only tours which did this included the geothermal area as an afterthought.  EVERYTHING is focused on the Morea culture and traditions.  I certainly have nothing against the Morea, it is an interesting culture, but I can take only so much.  I wasn't willing to pay a substantial fee for a 6 hour tour where I only got 45 minutes of what I wanted to see.

Anyway, this morning brought another beautiful dawn.

And about 15 minutes later, the sky was lite up like I have never seen before!

As we came into port, this was the most prominent feature, Mount Maunganul, or the Mount as referred to by locals.  I immediately thought I would love to hike this, but I doubt there will be time.

Kay, enjoying the view as we sailed in.

Today we are doing the included tour of the "Bay of Plenty".  During sail in and after we boarded our small bus to start the tour, it was obvious that this was a prosperous area.  We saw golf courses, well maintained roads and infrastructure, and the beach was beautiful.

We saw this rural church several miles outside of Tauranga.

Part of our tour was to visit a kiwi orchard and learn about the kiwi industry.

Close up of the hanging kiwi fruit

After driving through several orchards, we stopped at the Paenogaroa Community Hall.  

Here we were greeted by locals which served us coffee, tea and cookies - as well as two varieties of fresh kiwi.  Below is just a few of the many products manufactured from the kiwi fruit.  We were even able to taste kiwi liquor.

On stage we had a brief performance of the traditional Mauri greeting.

Part of this greeting consists of the Haka, a ceremonial dance in the Mauri culture.  You may have seen this performed by The Black, the New Zealand rugby team.  Part of the purpose is to intimidate through feet stomping, tongue rolling and wide eyes.

On returning to Tauranga, our driver took us along the beachfront properties.  There were some really nice houses.  The one shown below is quite modest, but had a price tag of $6 million NZD or about $4.2 million USD - location, location, location...d

After arrival back at the port, we realized that perhaps we did have time to hike the Mount.  It was about a mile to the base of the volcanic cone.  

Once it was reached and we started the climb, Kay quickly decided she wasn't up for it.  Carl then dropped back due to the heat.  Janet and I continued, but she eventually decided to return as well.  

I am not as smart as they are so I continued alone.  I will share photos as I go along to the top of the 760 ft mountain.

I finally reached the top.  At one point I almost turned back, but couldn't quite bring myself to call it quits.

This map was displayed at the top.

This is my Geo Tracker app which shows my route.  I went up one way and came down another in order to see the entire 360 degree views.

The first ship is an Oceana, the second is our Viking Sky

This is one of the town's water towers.  I thought it was quite imaginative. 

We had dinner at the Chef's table last night.   That is the alternative dinning venue which features a fixed menu which is changed every 3 days.  Tonight was Mexican.  I have never had a 5 course Mexican meal with a different wine with each course.  Interesting, our first course was octopus ceviche on a tostado.  

Sorry for the abrupt  finish to todays blog, but time is short and I have to go.  We are in Napier and getting ready for a private excursion we booked before we left.

I'll report back later..