It has been a busy few days and we are about half way through with 28 of the 58 ships visiting
Tauranga completed so far. So this is a bit of a catch up for me.
17
th January 2009:
Two ships were in port this day. The
Volendam and the
Millenium. It was pretty busy and in no time the van was full with a family from
Auzy, Colin (dad), Robin(Mum), Luke, Joel, Breanne and Keely and two f
riends from America Shelly and Claire. As our name says it is all about
Adventure in the Bay of Plenty and in no time we had the days activities planned and we were heading over to
Rotorua. First stop
Agroventures. Colin, Luke and Joel decided to give the jet boats ago, Breanne and Keely raced each other on the
Shweeb and Robin was in charge of the photos. Shelly and Claire chose the jet boats as well. Next Dad and the boys were getting ready for
the Swoop, Breanne and Keely were off to the Free Fall (mum was in
charge of the photos) and Shelly and Claire had a bit of catching up to do back in America and were surfing the net. Soon we were heading off to
Raftabout Rafting Tours on the
Kaituna River. It had been Shelly's idea to do some rafting and no-one needed any convincing. About a 20 minute drive from
Rotorua Raftabout provides a very professional, safe and fun adventure. The family from
Auzy were in one raft while the
girls from America plus a few ring ins were in the other. This time I was in charge of the photos because Robin was rearing to take on the highest
commercially rafted waterfall in the world at 7
m's. After the necessary safety and technique briefings they disappeared with their rafts over farmland to the launching ramp just down t
he hill. I jumped into the
courtesy coach and was taken to all the best photo spots with Barry from Adventure
Photography. The 7m waterfall was the winner on the day taking a few prisoners under its
turbulent waters but spitting them up again before too long. Keely was too young to go down the waterfall but made up for it by riding up front shotgun style on the surfing sections of the river. Everyone was feeling a bit hungry so we returned to
Rotorua for a quick feed. Now you cannot go to
Rotorua without seeing some of the
geothermal activity and I just happen to know of a couple of places that the big bus tours
don't take people. (and its free) by now it was getting late as Shelly and
Claire's boarding time was 5.30pm so we had to head back to
Tauranga. I also had an evening tour with another group from
Auzy wanting to go to the
Mitai Village for a Maori Concert and
Hangi Meal. I could wright on forever about this trip but as they say a
picture says a thousand words so I have put on as many as I could. On a passing note for my
Auzy friends "GO THE WARRIORS"
The Afternoon of the 17
th Jan 2009:
After dropping Colin and his Family, Shelly and Claire back at the Port I was off again with another family from Australia. Their ship wasn't leaving Port until around midnight and although just coming back from
Rotorua they wanted to head back to see the
Mitai Village Maori Show. After picking up a few cold ones for them from the
liquor store we were off. Sharon, Leroy, Paula, Mark, Brendon and Indy (after the racing cars) were from a small town in
Auzy that hadn't seen much rain for quite a while so our green country side was quite refreshing. As
Auzys and Kiwis do we talked about sport, politics, history and culture until we
arrived at
Mitai. I dropped them off for the 2hr show and headed into town for something to eat and catchup on some paper work. About 9.30 I picked them up again and returned them to the ship. A long busy day and I hope they all
enjoyed it as much as I did.
18
th Jan 2009
Things started off a bit slow this day and after speaking with Tim who owns The Enterprise (the boat we use for some of our tours) who told me there were TV cameras everywhere for the hydroplane etc boat races I shot over to
Tauranga a put my flag up on his boat hoping to get a bit of exposure.
don't know if it worked or no yet. Not long had a being there Shelly from the I- Site Mt
Maunganui called me saying their were four off the boat wanting to go to
Kiwi 360 and
Comvita in Te Puke. Back I went and waiting for me was Lisa,
Genya, Julie who were dances off the boat and their friend Catherine. AS in all our tours I took them around the Mount and told them a bit of the local
history and culture of the area and showed them all the best sights on our way out to Te Puke about 1/2 hour drive away. We soon arrived at Kiwi 360 and after booking the guided tour they
browsed
around the
souvenir shop, sampled some kiwifruit, wine,
liquor etc. The manager offered me a free tour which I gladly accepted. The tour takes you around the orchard explaining in detail the
kiwifruit industry and how it came about and why it became so successful in New Zealand after originally being imported from China (Chinese
Gooseberry).
Once finished we piled back in the van and went to
Comvita,
specialists in natural
health care with a bee focus. they had a look around for a while and before long it was time to head back but not before
taking the
back we went to the top of
Papamoa Hills to show them the amazing panoramic views of The Bay of Plenty.
19
th Jan 2009
Today I had Steve and Patricia from America and Stu and Joy from Australia. They had been to the I-Site and decided to go white water rafting. So it
was back to
Raftabout. We went via
Pyes Pa and as being the
adventurous type people I wanted to show them a few of the attractions.
Unfortunately due to some road works we got a bit delayed and after grabbing something to eat we were off to
Raftabout headquarters. On arrival we were greeted as usual by the friendly staff and
because there was room on the raft Blair offered me a free ride which I happily accepted. Again
after the prelims of safety and technique we were off down the river. There was one other raft, named Team China and from the start you could tell there was going to be some mischief on the water. Alfie
our
fantastic guide had us
maneuvering the raft pretty well and except for a few words to our American friends to paddle harder we had it mastered. To be fair though having an
Auzy and a Kiwi on the same boat probably isn't the best thing. Stu was probably trying to paddle harder than me and I know I was paddling hard to make sure Stu wasn't getting the upper hand. I guess the most memorable moment was looking back after going down the 7m water fall and our
guide Alfie was nowhere to be seen. I think the photo tells the story. Again it is one of those activities that is hard to put down in words and I am made about water sports/activities so I just had an amazing time. Steve and Patricia put on par with skydiving. Again the pictures tell the story.
Afterwards we
look at the
photos taken
by Barry and it was decided to show them a bit of
geothermal activity back in
Rotorua. Again we are able to take them to the places where the crowds
don't go so they get to get up close and spend as much time as they want. But again the day is only so long and we had to head back to
Tauranga after stopping off at a kiwifruit orchard for Steve. We were even able to make this an adventure by jumping a gate to a private farm to get a photo. No harm was done and we were soon back at the port.
The Rhapsody of the Seas was in Port and although quite a large ship things were pretty slow. At about 11.00am Jessie and Gretchen from America were very keen to give white river rafting a go. The next scheduled raft trip was at 12.30 so after a bit of indecision they decided to give it a go. The Kaituna boasts the largest commercially rafted waterfall which is 7m the staff are fantastic, being laid back but very professional ensuring you have a great time. I had a hard choice of turning down a ride to take a few photos but its a sacrifice I am prepared to take from time to time. Once Jessie and Gretchen had mastered the drills they headed down to the river to start their adventure. Approx 45mins later they were finished and heading back to Raftabout base. After viewing some photos we headed back to Tauranga. We had to stop off at a Kiwifruit Orchard on the side of the 
road and get some photos then I decided to stop off and show them Blokarting. Although Jessie and Gretchen were interested they decided to pass. They had mentioned earlier about New Zealands meat pies and how their friends had told them they must try one, so we stopped of at a local cafe. After taken photos of the warming drawer they bought a couple of pies and we headed back to the ship. Needless to say they thought the pies were delicious.
