The windy Bay of Plenty and AC/DC
07 May 2015 | Tauranga, NZ
From Whitianga we headed down to Tauranga for a date with Jaques Calvo who is the acknowledged SSB expert in NZ. Our SSB had had poor reception for some time (It turned out we needed to install capacitors. The radio is great now.)
South of Whitianga the coast undulates with mountains and bays and wind from the bays can blast out from the coast - on our return trip we had 60 knots for a period when the prevailing wind was 25 knots from the west.
For our sail down to Tauranga the wind was blowing 20 plus knots from the SW and so we decided to shelter at Mayor Island before making the last short leg into Tauranga (another strong tidal entrance). We anchored in South East Bay and were entertained by a seal colony that lives on the shore. There is a walk on the island which, ideally, needs approval from the local Maori council. We didn't do the walk but it looked pleasant.
We arrived in Tauranga to discover that this is a place where a car is a must, or at least a bicycle. The Tauranga Bridge Marina is about a 30 min walk from the edge of town and is surrounded by wharfs and chemical and timber exporters. The marina itself is quite pleasant and the office and local live-aboards all friendly. Paul was particularly looking forward to staying here because the notorious Phil Spector from AC/DC has his restaurant and bar here. But the best part of Tauranga was the food. There is an excellent patisserie over in Brookfield which is a 15 minute walk from the marina and a 10 minute drive got us to Gate Pa shopping centre and a wonderful German deli.