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
