Tauranga and Rotorua

On Thursday, we docked at the New Zealand port city of Tauranga. Our day started with a tour of the city of Tauranga. We are a little farther north in the North Island now, and the weather is definitely warmer and more tropical. 

Tauranga

Most people on our tour, as on most of our tours, are from the United States, Australia, England, and Canada. Our bus driver and tour guide for today was Alan.

Alan

Tauranga is the largest port in New Zealand and is a beach city. There are numerous beaches and resorts with beautiful coastal scenery in Tauranga. Today there were many people out on the beaches, as it is a public holiday in New Zealand. It is Waitangi Day, which commemorates the signing of the treaty of Waitangi, which many consider to be the founding document of the nation. It would be comparable to the 4th of July in the U.S. So we were fortunate to be in Australia for the celebration of Australia Day, and now we are in New Zealand for Waitangi Day, Feb. 6.

Our tour started with a drive around the city and seeing the highlights of the city of Tauranga. This area is a big Kiwi producer and exporter (the fruit, not the bird). We passed lots of Kiwi orchards on our drive today. Most of the orchards have tall trees built around them. Alan said that the purpose of the tall trees was to limit the amount of wind on the Kiwi trees. Harvest season for the Kiwi fruit is March to June. All harvesting is done by hand. There are not enough workers in New Zealand for the harvesting, so many Pacific Islanders are given temporary work permits to come for a few months and harvest the Kiwi fruit. By law, the farmers must provide accommodation and transportation for the workers. They also are required to provide wifi so the workers can keep in touch with their families back home.

Kiwi Orchard

A big and prominent feature of Tauranga is Mt. Maunganui, which is a large lava dome. The official translation of the name is "large mountain" and it is simply called "The Mount" by the locals.

Mount Maunganui

The houses here are built really close together, and as we drove by some of them on the bus, you could see how the roofs were only a few feet apart. Alan said that if you wanted to borrow some sugar from your neighbor, all you had to do was hold your cup out your window and the neighbor could easily fill it. The houses weren't really all that big, but we were told by Alan that they sell for around $900,000.

Rooftops of houses

After our tour of Tauranga, we drove to the nearby town of Rotorua. There are many lakes in this area, and our first stop was at Lake Rotorua where we took a thrilling ride on a Jet Boat. This was one of the most fun excursions that we did. The Jet Boat holds about 20 people and the driver took us on a half hour drive across the lake. During the drive, we swerved left and right continuously and at times the driver did a quick 360 turn. After the turn, the driver stood up and turned toward us pretending to count, implying that some of us could have flown out during the turn. We were told that the Jet Boat is a New Zealand invention. It was a lot of fun. 

As we were heading back to shore, the beach in front of us had some areas where you could see steam coming out of the sand, due to the geothermal waters that are abundant in this area. In fact, many of the commercial buildings in the area are heated geothermally, including the local hospital. We were told that there is so much geothermal activity in the area that it is possible for a boiling mud pool to suddenly appear in the back yard of someone's house. The house would then be condemned and the residents would have to simply leave. I hope they offer mud pool insurance here. The reason for the geothermal activity is that the earth's crust is very thin in this area, only 2 to 3 miles thick.

We passed a hotel called a Sleepery. We passed by a McDonald's. On our last trip to Australia 11 years ago, we never saw a McDonald's. Now they are abundant in both Australia and New Zealand. The McDonalds in New Zealand have a bilingual menu where all the items are in Maori as well as in English, since both are official languages. So if you wanted to order a Big Mac and fries, you could order a Makanui and parai parai.

After the Jet Boat ride, a lunch stop at a cafe was planned. However, because of today being a public holiday (Waitangi Day), the cafe was closed. So Ricky, Joe, and I walked down the street looking for a place that was open for lunch. We happened across a Vietnamese sandwich shop and enjoyed some delicious homemade chicken and roast beef sandwiches.

Vietnamese Sandwich Shop

After lunch, we toured a jade studio at Jade Mountain. This type of Jade is only found in New Zealand and is important in the Maori culture where it is valued as a treasure. The Jade goes by three names: Jade, Pounamu (Maori for Jade), and Greenstone. In the studio, a tour guide explained the process of jewelry making and we watched a couple of people at work, polishing and shaping the Jade into different types of jewelry. There was also a gift shop, of course, for purchasing the jewelry.

After we left the Jade studio, we headed to Hell's Gate Geothermal Park. This is similar to Yellowstone, where there are many geothermal pools, mud pools, and fumaroles. We were given a guided tour of the park and enjoyed the unusual scenery that the thermal activity provided. 

After the tour of the Geothermal Park, we headed back to Tauranga. Along the way, Alan continued to enlighten us on the ways of New Zealand. This area is called the Bay of Plenty and the farmers are referred to as Bay of Plenty farmers. We passed a golf course that is irrigated with city waste water. 

When we arrived in the city of Tauranga, Alan took us "the long way" back to the ship, which meant a detour to drive by the beaches. The Tauranga beaches are beautiful and were very crowded today with everyone taking advantage of the national holiday of Waitangi Day and the beautiful weather to enjoy some sand, surf, and sun. 

Since this is a highly volcanic area, tsunamis are not uncommon. In fact, Alan told us that people receive tsunami warnings via cell phone. When a tsunami warning is received, people are alerted to go to the nearest high point. There are signs on the beach directing people to the nearest tsunami evacuation route. According to Alan, there have been seven tsunamis in the last 5 years.