Tauranga
26 January 2010 | Tauranga Bridge Marina
Linda
Our trip back from the mountains included a stop in Tirau, a small rural town with a corrugated metal obsession. I like that! Their visitors center is a large sheep dog and the woolen store a big sheep. Have a look at the photos. You'll see corrugated used in a number of interesting ways.
With Steve's departure the following day, we're back to Tauranga and Kattywompus. Pizza is on the list for dinner, and Julie, here at the marina office has suggested a place downtown on The Strand. The restaurant turns out to be a Turkish/pizza place. What a feast we had. Breads with Turkish dipping sauces, salad and excellent pizza. Turkish rice pudding for dessert, it's one of my favorites.
Steve's visit has gone by so quickly and we've had so much fun. In the morning he's on the bus to Auckland and we're back to planning the next leg of our adventure. On down the coast to Wellington.
There are a few boat projects to be done before we depart. Early on in the trip we had some major chafing on our main halyards, near the top of our mast. When Brad went aloft this week to check, he found that the aluminum sleeve that goes over the cap shroud bolt had two significant grooves worn in it by the old rope to wire halyards. He replaced the bolt and rotated the sleeve. No worries now. He also cleaned and greased the electrical connections on our anemometer. Maybe now our wind speed indicator will work. Maybe it's better not to know!
We also need to watch the weather forecasts carefully to plan our departure. I estimate that the trip could take 9 days and there are very few anchorages to duck into if the weather gets bad. Patience (not my strong point) is required. All the non local cruisers we've met think we're nuts to go further south. Call us crazy, but we're sure it's do-able and we want to sail to the south island.
Tauranga is a huge shipping port. I believe the primary exports are logs and Kiwi fruit. It's a vibrant city of about 100,000. While we're there it's a short walk to see the hydroplane races, an air show and an there's an amazing parade of jellyfish through the anchorage. More pictures! We also get to know some of our local neighbors on the dock. Fresh snapper, smoked fish and a lot of local knowledge about boating are shared. We're already looking forward to our return visit when we head north again in April.