Tonight we will stay in the shadow of our new friend, Mt Maunganui.
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| Obviously I was not flying and need to thank Google images for this photo that gives an idea of what the mountain is like. You can even see some of the tracks!! |
We travelled through the morning and were in Tauranga in time to find ourselves some lunch, after stopping for a cuppa along the way. The thermos has come in quite handy and I'm glad we brought it along.
We did have to divert a little near Putaruru when the road we were wanting was closed due to a washout. Luckily Trev was on the ball and managed to find a good work around that didn't take too much time.
There were lots of logging trucks coming over the range into Tauranga and lots of other trucks on the steep windy road too, due to the fact that it is a busy port. When we got here we saw all the ships loading and unloading and it all made sense.
We travelled through quite a lot of cow country today, with dark dark mud (even at this time of year) and rolling green hills. This many-sided shed was interesting.
When we got to Tauranga we found a park and went for a walk. I had read that there were some interesting statues here in the park. There were also lots of kids making use of the warm day and doing what kids do (from varying heights)
But these statues were the main attraction....The Hairy McClary characters are represented in bronze, and the kids can sit on them, pat them etc. Apparently the writer, Linley Dodd came from here.
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| Slinky Malinki |
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| Scarface Claw |
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| Bottomly Potts |
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| Muffin McClay |
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| Schnitzel Von Krumm (just for you Sue and Daryl) |
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| Hercules Morse |
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Zachary Quack whispering into his ear!
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| And everyone's favourite- the hairy one himself. |
Kids were out in force enjoying the spouts in the water playground and lots of people were sitting in the sunshine, chatting, reading and smiling.
Once we had soaked that all in, we drove over the bridge, checked in to our motel (in a quiet part of town near the Mt. ) and headed off to walk.
Trip advisor had said that the walk to the top was rough and steep with many steps, and that the base walk was lovely with great views. We had agreed to walk the base , but when we got a start on the path we came to a sign telling us it was closed due to a slip! ...oh well, so much for doing the sensible thing. There was now no choice but to go to the top. The ankle won't be thanking me later tonight.
If there is a tsunami in the area the plan is to climb the mountain. (The green zones are safe) . Apparently you should not drive in a Tsunami, you should go on foot. You have about 40 minutes from the time of the quake to get yourself to safe ground. All very reassuring.
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| There were a number of hang gliders hanging around in the thermals |
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| View from the summit |
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| Looking north |
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| My favourite mountain climber |
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| The tracks were a bit complicated and some were closed. Sorry about the reflections. We headed left (clockwise) from the bottom of the screen on the red track. Then on to green and yellow to the summit. Then down via yellow, green and blue. |
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The harbour looking south looks beautiful and calm, with black sand, but apparently has quite a rip.
The beach on the other side is white sand and surf and quite popular.
We enjoyed our best meal by far at a little spot called Phil's Place next to the marina. While there, we checked out some of the memorabilia and realised this place belongs to Phil Rudd, bad boy drummer from AC/DC!!
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