Wanderers : New Zealand 🇳🇿 Tauranga

Tauranga, the Māori pronunciation is taʉɾaŋa, is a coastal city in the Bay of Penty region. It is the fifth most populous city of New Zealand.

For us this trip was a cluster-f**k. To begin with, we were originally planning on going to Rotorua for the geothermal wonders. Instead we booked a flight to Tauranga. No problem, we will make it work.

Well, it didn't quite work out as we thought. One of the main things I had planned was to hike Mount Maunganui (more the base than up to the summit). There were also hot pools at the base that we could have used after our hike. The mount and surrounding area was closed due to landslides.

Our next plan was to go to Fernland Spa. Guess what? It was closed for renovations. Believe me I'm not making this up.

What did we do?

Hairini Bridge

Train Train Train
We didn't catch the train going
over the bridge

There were walkers, runners, scooters,
bikes, & motorcycles 🏍 all using
the walkway

My artistic picture

Our waitress said the only other thing to do is The Historic Village, a vintage inspired shopping complex. Why not, what else are we going to do? We even chose to walk there and back, a little over an hour each way.

The Faulkner House is the oldest
residence in Tauranga
Built in 1844

The Pot House

A cute little artistic village.

Waterfront

Herries Arch

In honor of Sir William Herries
who donated £1000 for the
beautification of the
Tauranga borough

Wings To Fly

Dinghy Anyone

The wooden sleepers along
the waterfront pathway
were built using timber
recovered from the
container ship MV Rena,
which ran aground on the
Astrolabe Reef off the
coast of Tauranga on
Wednesday, 5 October 2011.

Hairy Maclary and eight of his friends:
Hercules Morse, Bottomley Potts, Muffin
McLay, Bitzer Maloney, Schnitzel
von Krumm, Scarface Claw, Slinky
Malinki and Zachary Quack

There was a great playground for kids

Where & what did we eat?

Clarence Tauranga Restaurant

Bennie - ham hock, miso hollandaise,
poached egg served on a hash browns.
Absolutely delicious!

Sourdough with poached egg, onion,
mushrooms, stracciatella, & balsamic

Turkish Eggs, toasted flatbread,
herb yoghurt & chilli

Green Salad with feta & mustard dressing

Cappelletti with walnuts, jalapeno &
blue cheese

Conchiglie with spicy sausage

Spice Mountain was rated pretty high on Google, and it was a Napelese restaurant right up Rob's alley.

Edamame Salad
We could have just eaten this it was so good

Chicken chilli

Chicken chow mein

Where did we stay?

Clarence Boutique Hotel is located in Tauranga's historical post office. It was a beautiful building with no lift and our room was located on the first floor (which in all other countries is our second floor).