Bay of Plenty

The trip from the Coramandel Peninsula to the Bay of Plenty was only about 80Km and we passed through the centre of the Universe as far as Kiwi Fruit is concerned. Miles upon miles of Kiwi Fruit trees.
Arriving in Tauranga we were concerned that it was a bit industrialised but it was only the docks area we were passing through and we soon got to the beach areas around Mount Manganui. This place is amazing, at one end of the beach is Mount Manganui itself, an extinct small volcano about 500 metres high and then a stretch of beach of approx 7 Km which runs up the coastline.
We are staying in a beautiful cottage for a week in the Papamoa hills which is 5Km out of Mt. Manganui, it comes complete with a resident Possum which you can hear during the night prowling around. The Tui is the NZ native bird and is renowned for copying sounds, so it was a bit weird hearing it sing in the garden and then bark like a dog.
There are lots of walks to do around here and we managed to complete a full circuit of the Waikerio Estuary which included mangroves and native bush walks. On the Sunday we went to a local Farmer’s Market, we bought some roasted, salted Macademia nuts and they were delicious, just sorry I didn’t buy up the whole stall.
This was a relaxing week after all our activity so there’s not much to write about only walking and reading books at the cottage.
The weather is excellent at the moment, about 21C and clear skies most of the time, but it still gets a bit chilly at night. We visited some falls just up the road from the cottage called Kaitake where I discovered that I had locked the cottage keys inside and the hosts were not at home. I had to put on my Scouse head and with the help of some fishing line, managed to break in, good job it was secluded.