February 18, 2013
It’s easier to show a map of the Tauranga and Mount Maunganui area than to try to explain it. Basically these towns are on fingers of land sticking out into one of New Zealand’s largest natural harbors. While these bits of land all stem from the mainland, they are also connected to each other by bridges which makes going between them much quicker.
A map of the Tauranga and Mount Maunganui area.
We arrived at the Trinity Wharf Hotel which overlooked Tauranga Harbour and sits at the base of the bridge to Mount Maunganui. After admiring the view, we headed down the street for dinner.
We found that while Tauranga is between two bodies of water, it faces Tauranga Habour and Waipu Bay to the east, while a freeway runs along the estuary on the west side.
There’s a waterfront area called the Strand, about a half-mile long and made up entirely of restaurants, pubs, and bars. Streets behind the waterfront and off to the side are filled with shops and small eateries. The main highway further back has things like grocery stores, furniture stores, warehouse stores, etc.
When we got near the end of the Strand, I caught sight of it: Starbuck’s! We had no idea there was a Starbuck’s here and were stunned. By the time we headed back to Opua, we had several deciding factors in bringing Legacy here, but I think we can look back to the discovery of the Starbuck’s as the turning point.
We treated ourselves to a nice dinner at the Harbourside Restaurant just south of the Strand and similar the Chart House in America. It was very good, but the service was slow so we went back to the Strand seeking dessert and ended up at a Texas-themed place called Lone Star. We split a pavlova, not very Texan but delicious.
After dessert, we wandered around the back streets and really liked the feel of the neighborhood, finding some neat shops and enticing little casual eateries, including several sushi places. This was another big plus. Tomorrow we’d see the marina, boat yard and Mount Maunganui, but so far it looked very promising for bringing our boat here. –Cyndi
