Tauranga, New Zealand

Day 40 - We have stopped today before heading to our final destination of this cruise. Today we are inside the 'Bay of Plenty'. We docked before 8:00 and had left the ship before 9:00. We took a cruise ship shuttle to the downtown area of Tauranga. In order to get there, the bus had to travel through a mostly port-related industrial area. Boy, New Zeland surely does ship a whole lot of lumber, I hear mostly to Japan, India, and other parts of Asia!



Downtown didn't require a whole lot of time to explore. The weather was a little grey but the temperature at 17C seemed okay. In fact, we noticed in the news that Vancouver is now experiencing 0C temperatures at night and snow flurries! By the time it was ready to really shower, we were ready to go back to the ship for lunch.



Later in the evening, we saw the area at which the Noordam was docked. Mount Maugnanui was a nice landmark and the generally good weather makes the beaches near here popular for both surfers and sunbathers. I really liked the little cafes, bars, backpackers, and boutiques in town there. Any place which sells Turkish kebabs is a place for me. These factors did make me think that during Vancouver's rain, this area will always be having summers. Hum.