Month: February 2013

February 22, 2013

Tauranga turned out to be another beautiful, wonderful town but I guess that’s no big surprise as everything we’ve seen here in New Zealand has been pretty wonderful.  In a previous post, we talked about all the people we know here in New Zealand.  We ran in to a few of them in Tauranga.

We’d heard a rumor that Robin Phillips from the boat Katydid (hi Jennifer!) was in Tauranga and we met him for coffee at Starbucks one morning.  (Oh yes, there are two Starbucks in Tauranga!)  He said something that I’d like to try to relate here as accurately as I can.  He said that as cruisers, we need to have three plans; an immediate plan, a short-term plan and a long-term plan.  That the long term plan probably won’t work out the way you think it will, but you need to have it to get the out of the bay and on to next destinations.  The short-term plan might turn out the way you expect and the immediate plan most certainly should.

For some time now, Cyndi and I have talked about updating “The Plan” section on our web site and Robin gave us the inspiration we needed to get it done.  Check it out.  Included there is a detailed graphical route plan that we should be able to follow exactly for the next 3 to 5 years. As for our immediate plan, maybe another cup of coffee at Starbucks! -Rich

This just in… now even our long-term plan is in jeopardy!  Cyndi and I have always been very compatible.  If you know us, you know this to be true.  One of the very foundations of our relationship is that we both love Starbucks coffee.  On this trip to Tauranga, things changed.  I admitted that I like almost any coffee here in New Zealand better than I like Starbucks coffee.  She consented to go to Robert Harris Coffee Roasters with me, even though Starbucks was just down the street, but she did say that she might have to reevaluate our future together.  I’ll let you know how it turns out. -Rich

February 21, 2013

By the end of our second day in Tauranga, we had pretty much decided to bring Legacy down here to do our boat work and live the rest of the season.  We loved the marina, the boatyard, the hiking, the beaches, the towns, the food, and the general atmosphere.  Plus it would put us near some areas we hadn’t had time to see yet.

By now we had decided to come back to New Zealand at least two more times (if not more), but it would be nice to see more of the north island before we headed off to Fiji.  We planned to cruise some of the islands on the way down to Tauranga, and it would be convenient to have it it be a one-way trip.  We could leave directly from Tauranga for Fiji in late May without having to worry about getting back north to Opua to check out.

We drove back to Opua suddenly feeling short on time as we’d be leaving early in March.  It was time to wrap up our business in Northland and get ready to do some cruising.

For lack of any other pictures to go here, I’ll offer these “from the car” pictures taken on our trip back up to Opua. –Cyndi

February 18-20, 2013

One definite draw to moving down here were the number of eateries in both towns.  There was food from every ethnicity and a lot of it reasonably priced (by New Zealand standards).  We could probably eat here for a year and not eat at the same place twice!

While we were in the area, we enjoyed authentic Mexican cuisine at the Flying Burrito Brothers, excellent fish and chips at Fresh Fish Market, Devonshire tea (Earl Grey tea served with an incredible scone and Devonshire cream) at the Coffee Club, and some very nice and inexpensive sushi.  And that was only in the three days we were here!  We had a lot more places we wanted to try, and and it made the decision to to relocate pretty easy. –Cyndi

February through May, 2013 – Tauranga, New Zealand

I was that (somewhat old) kid in the candy store at Steve’s Marine. There’s a very good marine store in Opua, called Cater Marine, so I wasn’t all that marine-store deprived, but Steve’s really got my blood pumping. Among all that stuff – tons and tons of boat stuff – there must be a bunch of things I want (and maybe even need.) Ah, there’s nothing better than boat-related retail therapy for this cruiser.

And it’s not just the great stock that makes Steve’s special. Everyone who works there is so friendly and helpful. Thank you Steve’s Marine! See you all soon. -Rich

February 19, 2013

It was time to check out the marina and boatyard.  There are actually two good-size marinas in Tauranga, the Tauranga Bride Marina and the Tauranga Marina, but we were specifically interested in the Tauranga Bridge Marina and its attached boatyard.

The Tauranga Bridge Marina is literally along the bridge between Tauranga and Mount Maunganui, about halfway between the two (and halfway between the two Starbucks).  We first visited the second floor office of the marina and found they were very nice and would have room for us.  We then went to talk to the boatyard.  We had some issues to address on Legacy, some straightforward (painting the bottom) and some that would require some ingenuity to resolve (the mooing cow sounds the rudder makes when steering the boat). Bruce, who runs the yard, understood all our issues and had all right answers.  Plus the price was right.

That evening we were invited to have dinner with our friends Colin and Jeanette (the couple we met in Samoa who told us about Tauranga in the first place) at the Tauranga Sport Fishing Club.  It’s located at the other marina (the Tauranga Marina), which is where they keep their boat.  That, too, is a very nice marina.  We had a delicious dinner and talked about the yard, local boat stores and services, and Tauranga.  It all sounded pretty great!

The next day, we went to check on some of the boat supply stores and were very impressed.  There were lots of good stores, but Rich has written a post about his favorite, coming up next. –Cyndi