Day 13. Whirling through Tauranga
Today I thought would be one of those wet days where I would
need a jumper and my wet weather gear. Turns out the clouds even though they
were dark didn’t once splatter anything onto the ground where my feet touched
the ground. I was happy especially when it ended up being a pretty warm day
overall. I couldn’t complain as it was very warm when you are out and about
walking.
I woke up early so that I would be able to catch one of the
busses, which travels to the area of Mt Maunganui. I did want to climb the
mountain though it was a big hill and I think also one of the local Pa sites.
The bus cost me $3 each way and was well worth the expense as I think I would
be exhausted if I tried walking around 3kms one way. At least I was able to get
close enough so that I could walk to the beach. I did need breakfast and a
coffee before I went anywhere. After fulfilling the two basic needs I headed
down the street towards Mount Maunganui, I did learn the town was going to have
a busking festival on during the day. The first place I came to was something
called Mount Drury or Hopukiore. From the top of this small hill I hoped I
could have a great view of Mount Maunganui and also some of the tow. There was
no such luck, but I did get a good view of a container ship cruise by on the
other side of town, which I thought was pretty cool. I mean I did get views,
but trees were in the way so not everything was unrestricted.
Once on the beach side of town the surf wasn’t pumping at
all, which was good for me as I wanted to checkout what was considered to be an
island, but its still connected to the land by sand. Moturiki Island also once
known as Leisure Island was at one point was a water park where they had
dolphins and sea lions, but had closed. I walked out along the sand and was
about to take a step on the wet sand when some sea water rushed around the
sand. I did put on boot in, but didn’t want wet feet so waited until the water
was gone before crossing. I did walk to the other side of the small island with
the worry on my mind that I shouldn’t take too long in case I got caught with
the tide as I don’t know how much water would be around the island and I didn’t
want to take my boots off either. I didn’t really want to climb over an outcrop
of rocks on the end of the island either in case I slipped, but nothing
happened and I was able to cross safely to the mainland. I would love to walk
across St Michaels Mount in the UK the same way at low tide. My next challenge
was to climb Mount Maunganui before it became too hot, although people were out
and about in droves early in the morning.
I wasn’t sure about which side of the mountain that I would
walk up as I knew there were several paths to go up the hill. On my way to the
track I found the base track was 3kms all the way round and I wasn’t wanting to
do that as I wanted to go up. I was actually struggling getting up some of the
track as it was steep. The good news was that there was a sign telling you
which track to take and the choice was either difficult or intermediate. I
chose the intermediate track to go up, which seemed easier until I came to the
4X4 track and then it became steeper. It wasn’t too bad, but I was sweating and
the day had started to become a bit warmer. I was happy when I did make it to
the top though I drained the water I had left and sat in the shade and read my
book that I had in my bag with wet weather gear. I needed to rest for a little
bit before moving off though the wind did help as it was cool. Apparently a
beacon had been light on the hill in 1919 called the beacon of peace hand had
been answered by several others. I think the area was also a pa as well. After
taking photos from the top, I took the difficult trail down and it did mean
difficult as there was a set of very steep stairs that I walked down, but some
people were jogging up them I think they were insane. Once at the bottom I was
going to catch the bus, but decided to take a wander to the marina. I didn’t get
that far when I found a map with information of Maunganui. Around the base were
two things I wanted to see and visit them I did. The first was the original
stone jetty for when settlers dropped off goods though it didn’t look like much
and the statue of Tangaroa.
By the time I walked back I had decided I needed some food,
so wandered through the people looking at the busker competition. I did enjoy
some of it and a few of the kids were pretty good. I thought it was strange
that the only buskers that were performing were all kids. After lunch I
wandered to the bus and it was only 5 mins before I caught it back to town,
which was easier than trying to take a wander.
Once back in the CBD I wanted he have a look at an arch I had missed the
day before and on my way I found the old building that was the post office,
which I later found was on the list of historic things to see in town. I did
find a waka that had been donated to the city in the 1970s. I didn’t walk
towards the arch as I had found a building that was interesting and happened to
be an old storage shed I think it was and something very unexpected behind the
police station was the Monmouth Redoubt, which was used as protection against
the Maori in the 1860s. The arch I had found was named after a wealthy business
person, Sir William Herris. There were signs pointing out the hidden histories
to the area, but I was heading towards a park called Memorial park and the plan
was to visit a historic street.
On my way to the Memorial Park, I was side tracked by a
railway bridge walkway. I decided to walk across the railway bridge via the
walk way though on the other side I turned around as I don’t know what was
expecting and wasn’t expecting anything to be very far away. At least I worked
out what was on the other side. I had to walk up some stairs once I was back across
the bridge into a carpark, which ran near the street I wanted to take to the
park. It did seem to be a long walk, but didn’t take too much time. I was
interested by a sign that said Cedar Manor, but thought I would check this out
later on my way home. I found Humpty Dumpty who was 50 years old in the park,
which was pretty cool. The park also had miniature trains too and for $1 you
could go for a ride. I kept on walking and went looking for the historic
street. I thought the street was on 15th Avenue and once I found it
there was nothing historic about it and I walked the entire length to make sure
I hadn’t overlooked it. I found nothing and by this time it was getting late
and I was exhausted. I wandered through the park again as I wanted to see what
the Cedar Manor was all about. I was disappointed as it turned out to be
nothing historic, but a retirement village. Fancy that and here I was thinking
it was a big house made out of cedar.
Once I made it back to the hostel I knew I needed to rest
and take my boots off as I had been out in the sun all day. I think I have
gotten a little bit of a suntan too. I had to look up why I couldn’t find the historic
village on a street. I found it was on 17th avenue and I hadn’t walked
far enough at all. That didn’t bother me as I was wearing myself out and will
have something to do when I come back someday. Tomorrow I am off to Hamilton,
the second last stop of my trip before I end up going home.
No comments:
Post a Comment