Tauranga v Auckland - and Rain!
Aurora_b
Mike and Liz Downing
Sat 7 May 2011 09:33
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Having returned to Tauranga from our mini tour of Rotorua and
the Tongariro National Park, we made the decision to stay here and
leave the boat here when we return to the UK in the summer for Jonathan's
wedding, rather than go on to Auckland and leave it
there. Tauranga is the size of an average UK town (but a city in
New Zealand terms) and we can walk into the shopping
centre in 30 minutes. In Auckland, the marina that
has berths available is actually 40 minutes drive from the city
centre, so not so convenient. There seems to be a reasonable number of boating
services around Tauranga - mechanics, a sailmaker, rigger, stainless
steel fabricators, electronics specialist and 3 chandleries (that we've
found so far) - so plenty of places to spend money! The locals are all
very friendly and the owner of the small boatyard next to the marina
where the boat will be lifted ashore has offered to
keep an eye on her while we're away. The marina we're in is
actually quite big, 500 or so boats, but they all leave their boats in
the water all year. It's back-to-front, or upside down, compared to
the UK as in all the marinas in New Zealand it's quite a bit more
expensive to have a boat out of the water on the hard than it is to keep it
in the water in a marina berth. As a consequence all
the onshore hard-standing yards tend to be small. The one
here only has space for 30-40 boats.
Having decided to stay here, it was necessary to
hire a car to take the liferaft and other gear to Auckland for
servicing. It included our wind generator as it has a fault and
the service agent is also in Auckland. It's normally about a 2
1/2 hour drive to Auckland and we decided to stay over and drive back the
next day, taking the opportunity to see some of the city. Having agreed to
meet people, the date was fixed - a big mistake as our luck with
the weather deserted us completely. It rained solidly both days - real
heavy stuff that made driving very unpleasant. Every big lorry coming the
other way threw a wave of water over the car. It was like being back at
sea! As a result it took a lot longer and we needed the second day to complete
the drop off of all the equipment we'd taken. Sky City, the tallest
building in the Southern Hemisphere, was also in our plans, but the
observation areas were hidden in the clouds, so there didn't seem much
point; perhaps another day. So no pictures of Auckland yet. Talking of
rain, we also had the wettest Easter either of us can remember. It started
raining on the Thursday before Easter and didn't stop until the following
Wednesday - we now have an expensive dehumidifier!
 A view from the marina of the Tauranga port
entrance - between the hill and the first crane to the left of
it.
The entrance is quite a bit bigger than it
looks as the channel turns to the left and opens
out.
The cranes are for the container port and there's a large
container ship alongside in the picture. The main port, which is the biggest
we've seen in NZ, is opposite and out of the picture on the right-hand
side.The hill is Mount Maunganui and there's a reasonably large town to the
right of it, also called Mount Maunganui.
 Compared with Mount Maunganui at 750ft high, the
high-rise buildings look small.
 They have personalized number plates here
too!
 The Tauranga bridge over the tidal river we
have to cross when going to town.
 Taken from the bridge, with the marina we're in on
the right.
 There are no gulls in the Pacific islands,
but no shortage here!
 Tauranga i-Site - the excellent tourist
information centre that every town and many villages
have.
 Above and below, shopping streets in
town.
   Taking a break on the river front after a hard
day's shopping! The railway line is in the background,
but it only
carries freight and only seems to
run at night.
 The park between the shops and the
river.
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