Tauranga – What Kelly is laughing about

My views do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.

Tauranga was one of my favorite ports, in spite of the fact that I never visited a grocery store there. It was a later sail so sometimes I was able to work a half day and have someone cover my safety duties for the rest of it, and thus, I think I had more time to explore Tauranga than any other port. There were so many things to do! There was the mountain to climb (Mount Maunganui, which I did a few times), a cute main street with lots of shops and restaurants (I usually found myself at Astrolabe with it’s veggie burger and garden patio), friends had a BBQ near the beach (which I was able to join a couple of times), and there was kayaking (that I never got a chance to do there). Even though I had more time at that port, there were still so many things that I didn’t get the chance to do, and things I had done that I wanted to do again and again!

There were two days I was able to see my mom on this contract, and one of them was in Tauranga!

Here we are with the ship peaking out behind us

She and Ron Voyage had traveled from Sequim, Washington to Napier, spent the night and then road tripped it to Tauranga so they could be there when I arrived. My mom and I started planning an early morning until Ron pointed out that we both could use a chance to sleep in (which was always true) so they picked me up in their rental car at 9am and we drove to Rotorua, which was known for the drive (and also the natural Mineral Water baths that I also didn’t get a chance to try out). On the way there, I pointed out the airport where I had almost gone sky diving (more on that next post). The drive to Rotorua was underwhelming. I mean, it was pretty because everything in New Zealand was beautiful, but we couldn’t tell what all the fuss was about. We used the bathroom at the info center and then headed back. Somehow, Ron’s navigation system put us on smaller roads and we found ourselves weaving through beautiful forests and crossing single lane bridges. This must have been the road everyone was talking about! We got back in time to pick up Matt for lunch. My mom knew Matt from when she came to visit me on the Caribbean, and she knew he was my favorite. To this day, she compares every Cruise Director to his high caliber. Matt was excited to meet Ron Voyage, but who isn’t?

Here I am with Matt in front of Mount Maunganui

With the luxury of a car, we headed to Ron’s favorite fish and chip place– Bobby’s Fish Market. They had discovered this place over 10 years ago and had gone there on Ron’s last birthday (when they were in Tauranga on a ship). This place had a reputation! We put in our order and they said the wait would be two hours! That was okay. All we wanted to do was hang out with each other. We snagged a table right by the water and Ron (as an Elite Cruiser) and Matt (as an Elite Crew member) shared stories. When the food finally came it was well worth the wait. As a Brit, Matt appreciated the quality.

And Another day in Tauranga…

On (what turned out to be) our last day in Tauranga, Lauren and I met up with our friend Susan. Susan had been a guest on the Christmas cruise and we had such a great time getting to know her when she was on board with her parents. She told us that she lived in Tauranga and offered to show us around when we came back. I often wasn’t able to get the time off until the last minute, and sometimes Lauren or I had to work when the other one was off, but we finally worked it out!

Susan met us at the pier with her pups, Percy and Daisy. We asked if we could also bring Erich along. Erich (from Boston) worked in the Art Department and had become a part of our group that we couldn’t leave behind.

Driving along the beach in her convertible, we felt like we were already feeling the contrast from the daily activity on the ship. We stopped to say hello to Susan’s parents, who had also been on the Christmas cruise.

When we arrived at Susan’s house we were completely blown away. Every detail was as perfect and adorable as Susan herself.

The setting made me think of all the Barbie houses I had furnished and decorated as a kid– and now here we were in this perfect house, only it was human size!

And it was so good to be with an old friend again.

From the moment we arrived, Susan treated us like royalty. She offered us coffee, champagne, little cakes, and of course, the Wifi password!

We slipped into our swim sweets (that’s how the Italians pronounce suit. I’ve adopted the pronunciation) and headed out to the pool.

I had an appointment to go skydiving that afternoon, and the night before, I had talked Erich into going with me. The Skydiving place they could accommodate him too if we came two hours early. Once we got to Susan’s, we realized that this was where we wanted to be– we’d rather spend those extra couple of hours with her, so I kept the later appointment.