Tauranga’s Got It All

Instead of visiting the rellies in Auckland for the Christmas holidays as we usually do, this holiday we decided to take a week off in Tauranga in late January.

We liked the idea behind the Tourism BOP campaign ‘It’s Not Called The Bay of Plenty For Nothing,’ and our family ‘staycation’ certainly put it to the test.

Day One was Saturday and started with delicious pancakes at Le Chat Noir - a crepery in Greerton we had heard about.  Then we biked over to the Mount main beach from our home in Matua, swam, then had an ice cream at Monte Gelato, and walked up Mauao to experience that wonderful coastal Bay of Plenty vista.

After watching the Marine Parade zumba and boxing demos, we had a couple of cocktails at Armazen, and then rode home!   

Sunday took us to the Mount main beach again, and although we enjoy the beach, we tend to get bored after a couple of hours so I suggested we watch a female beach volleyball match.  My wife countered by saying that we always buy a painting on holiday, and an art exhibition was on at Coronation Park, so we ended up instead admiring the quality of the local artists, and acquired a painting.
 
After a walk on that incomparable track around the Mount, we did more cocktail market research at No 8 Café, and headed into Tauranga for a large steak at Lone Star on the Strand, followed by movies.

On Monday we drove to Waihi beach, and took the beautiful Orokawa Bay scenic walk which was somewhat marred by a torn apart container on the beach.  Hundreds of timber beams were scattered as if by a giant playing fiddlesticks, although happily they have now been removed.  After a pleasant picnic lunch we drove to Athenree Heads, and enjoyed the iconic harbour view.  A slow walk revisiting the murals in Katikati was followed by a DVD evening at home veging out.

After a run around the Waikareo estuary on Tuesday morning we drove over to Rotoiti Lake and visited friends at their bach.  The teenagers spent most of the day jet skiing and biscuiting, and on the way home we checked out the new Adrenalin Forest at TECT All Terrain Park.  Later we saw the movie Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy which I enjoyed but it was too slow moving for the rest of the family who abandoned me for a Pluto smoothy.

We spent much of the day fishing and beach combing on Matakana Island via the ferry on Wednesday, followed by a quiet evening reading, which one is supposed to do on holiday.

I always enjoy a visit to the Tauranga Art Gallery and Thursday was no exception, with coffee and lunch at Bravo in Red Square afterwards.  Later, after a bit of fun in hired kayaks in Pilot Bay, we had cocktails and sushi at Satori, followed by the movie Descendants.

Friday wasn’t exactly a typical holiday day because we had a biggish party that night, but having a day to prepare meant nothing needed to be rushed.  I took an hour to pop down to the Historic Village to buy a gift for a friend, and enjoyed the ambience.

I felt a bit guilty leaving the family on Saturday morning to tidy up after the party but I had a trip booked with Blue Ocean Charters and had a thoroughly enjoyable day at Motiti fishing.  We had a great feed of snapper, terakihi and trevally that night with friends and life felt good.

Sunday was spent at the excellent airshow, and hats off to Classic Flyers and Rotary for a stimulating day with real economic benefits for the city. We popped in to the Mount later to see friends compete in the surf life saving champs, and man was it buzzing!

Anniversary Monday morning was spent walking up Papamoa Hills, then a soak in the Mount hot pools, buying jewellery from the street vendors, chatting to the cruise ship passengers and finally a great pizza meal at Como on the Strand.

Yes, there are a multitude of activities on offer in and around Tauranga, and few better destinations for a healthy, happy, holiday.