February 11, 2023 – Tauranga, New Zealand

Another beautiful port in New Zealand – Tauranga and Rotorua.  Sitting just west of the International Date Line, New Zealand is the first to see the sunrise in the morning.  Rotorua is a place of natural beauty and geothermal capital of New Zealand (day trip from Tauranga).  We are currently in the area called ‘Bay Of Plenty’ region.  It’s home to New Zealand’s only active marine volcano.  In December 2019, a volcano in this area erupted killing 22 tourist (tourist from cruise ship) and injuring 25 others that were on the island.  It’s a popular cruise destination with many local attractions and also easy day-trip proximity to Rotorua and The Lord of the Rings, Hobbiton movie location.  

Tauranga seems to be a popular vacation spot for people of New Zealand and international visitors.  The name Taurange is a Maori word that roughly translates to “a sheltered anchorage”.  I didn’t realize until we left the port how sheltered it was.  

Bob and I decided to walk the town, to the beach and hike up Mount Maunganui.  As we left the ship, there were many tents set up with vendors selling their goods.  We wandered through and came across 2 young ladies, Sarah and Megan.  We stopped and talked to them.  They asked us questions about our cruise and we talked about the storm heading this way. Both very sweet, funny and we enjoyed talking with them.  I took their business card (Amalie’s Room) and continued to wander through the vendors.  We wandered back around and took a picture of the 4 of us together.  We had some good laughs and exchanged some information.  Just today I took her business card (Amalie’s Room) and looked up her business.  My heart aches as I read Sarah’s story.  When Sarah Oliver lost her newborn baby, she channelled her grief into making dress-up costumes for other children. She says how it’s helping her heal, stitch by stitch.  Her sweet baby, Amalie, graced this world on February 17, 2020 and just 4 short weeks later she went to heaven (diagnosed with a cancerous tumor on her brain that was not operable).  Bob and I know that dreaded “C” word and our hearts go out to her.  I’m including a picture of her business card so you can see what she’s creating to help others.  God Bless Sarah and her husband <3. God bless her friend Megan too.  We were meant to meet these 2 special ladies today and so glad we did.

Bob and I walked through the town, until we came to the end of the street and could see Mount Maunganui before us.  We found the trail and started walking.  Soon we came to a very steep set of stairs made out of stones.  The steps were uneven and you had to be very careful with your footing.  It’s warmer today than we expected or maybe it’s just the hike.  As we turned around we could see a nice beach with families out enjoying the water.  Many were fishing right from shore and others picking up shells and walking.  We continued our walk up a very steep and winding trail.  It’s Saturday so I think there are more people on the trail than there would be during the week.  We have to remember we’re in New Zealand and we need to stay left on the trail, not right.  Unfortunately, there are so many international visitors, people were walking both sides of the trail.  As you got higher and higher, there were steep drop offs with no rails to stop you if you fell.  We saw one young boy turn around to say something to his mother and he lost his balance and slipped over the edge.  His dad caught him by his shirt and hoisted him back to the trail.  We found a bench to take a break and we both realized this was too much for Bob to do.  After all, he is still recovering.  He told me he’d wait on the bench and I could go ahead to the top.  I started up another series of stairs.  When I reached the top, I asked a guy if I was almost there and he said it was the half way point.  Ok, time to turn around.  I wasn’t going to leave Bob sitting in the hot sun on a bench so I scurried back down to find him. Time to find our way carefully down the mountain and take our time to enjoy the beautiful ocean scene below.  We eventually got to the bottom of the trail and walked out on the beach to pick up a few shells and watch the waves.

Walked down the street to a well known ice cream shop we heard about (Copenhagen Cones).  O, ice cream was what we needed.  Excited when we saw the menu had Hokey Pokey.  We remembered from our visit 20 years ago, this was our favorite.  Vanilla ice cream with small, solid lumps of honeycomb toffee.  Deee-licious!  Enjoyed our ice cream while sitting on a bench and talking to some local folks.  Best ice cream ever!  Love New Zealander’s!

Walked back to the ship on a trail along the harbor.  We could see the Island Princess and Coral Princess in a distance.  Boarded our ship and found out we were leaving port earlier than planned due to the cyclone headed this way.  The captain made an announcement that unfortunately, we were going to miss the next 3 ports in New Zealand because of the cyclone Gabrielle.  They are expecting the storm of the century.  High winds and seas.  Our next ports were areas with narrow entrances and it would be dangerous to stay.  Safety first.  We will miss Picton, Wellington and New Plymouth.  We are leaving and cutting through Cook Strait (between North and South Island’s).

It was time to leave port.  Bob and I stood on our balcony to watch the tug boats assist the Coral Princess leaving the dock from behind us.  As it pulled away, the horn blew from Coral Princess.  I could see our Captain standing on the bridge watching and then our horn blew to say good-bye to our sister ship.  Suddenly a very familiar song, “The Love Boat” .  A passenger on our ship, playing trumpet on the balcony.  The theme of ‘The Love Boat’ echoed across the water and you could hear the cheers of the passengers on The Coral Princess and on our ship too.  We watched as the tugs escorted The Coral Princess to open seas.  This port has a very narrow entrance and sharp corner leaving.  You can see the waves breaking on the beach not far away at all.  Now I understand why the escort by the tugs, just in case they are needed.  The Coral Princess made the sharp corner and went out to open sea.  The tugs boats soon returned to the dock and assisted our ship the same way.  The blue sky from earlier today is now turning grey and stormy.  Gabrielle is a huge storm and in a distance you can see her coming.  

Note: New Zealand declared a state of emergency.  Gabrielle hit the North Island hard.  The pictures remind me of the flood in 2011 back home.  Prayers for our friends in New Zealand.