Tauranga/Bay of Plenty, New Zealand
On the third morning of our trip, we woke up in Whitianga and popped back to Jandals for a hot breakfast and coffee before we hit the road. After saying goodbye to our lovely hosts at the Waterfront Apartments, we piled in the car and made our way south to Tauranga, Bay of Plenty.
Both Whitianga and Tauranga hug the eastern coast of New Zealand, but our drive between the two cities was mostly devoid of ocean views, as the road took us through a lush, tropical rainforest for most of the way.
New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty is a vast stretch of coastline on the eastern shores of the north island. It includes beachside towns like Waihi Beach, Whangamata, and Papamoa, but Matt and I decided to spend our time in Tauranga, which is one of the largest cities in New Zealand. Tauranga is a coastal town, and our hotel sat right on the wharf of the Port of Tauranga. From the harbor, we could see massive freightliners filled to the brim with shipping crates, alongside skinny sailboats, cruise ships, and private yachts.
Tauranga’s most striking feature, in my opinion, is the mountain looming over the city: Mount Maunganui, or Mauno in Maori. The city and its white sandy beach sit right at the base of the mountain, which juts out into the Pacific Ocean, so access to Mount Maunganui is quite easy.
After checking into our hotel around noon, Matt and I headed into the downtown area searching for lunch. We quickly happened upon a funky, unique spot called Social, where we ordered beet salad and chicken poppers—an equally unique combination.
After lunch, we drove to the base of Mount Maunganui and started up the mountain. It was one of the most beautiful and unique hikes I’ve ever taken. The mountain has layers: at the very bottom, bright green grass and huge crimson pohutukawa trees line the sides, and the trail leading up instantly gives you stunning views of the sea below. Possibly the most fun part of the hike were the hundreds of sheep that live on this grassy plain. As we hiked upwards, it wasn’t rare for a lamb to dart across our path, or for a huge sheep to stand in our way and baa at us.
The next layer of the hike is pure jungle—it’s almost night and day from the first layer. As we climbed, Matt and I heard thunder over the ocean, and a rainstorm immediately poured down on us. The foliage, however, was so dense and thick with ferns, palm trees, pohutukawa trees, and other greenery, that we barely felt the rain. All throughout the hike, we heard birds chirping the most beautiful melodies, and we kept asking each other, “are we in the Amazon?” As the rain sprinkled the trees over our heads and the path got steeper and steeper, the climb became more adventurous, and we felt like explorers seeing an untouched jungle for the first time.
The final layer, the summit, is indescribable, so I’ve provided a photo below. You can see the Port of Tauranga, the beaches, and the city center in this photo, as well as a glimpse of the stunning ocean views. We stayed at the top for over half an hour, marveling at the sea below us.
Our hike down was much the same—we were thrilled by the rainforest vibes, thrilled by the beauty we’d seen, and thrilled by the lack of snakes in New Zealand. And we were lucky enough to have a sweet surprise halfway through our hike down: a trio of parrots zipped past us overhead, singing and squawking and squabbling with each other for dominance.
After our hike, we walked along the beach to a little island nearby, called Leisure Island, or Mohiti Island, where we climbed on rocks down to the sea and tramped through more jungle.
Hunger then struck, and we visited a food truck on the beach where we ate passionfruit ice cream and a grilled cheese, and made friends with the two girls working there.
As soon as we’d finished, Matt and I jumped back in the car and sped off to our next adventure: Kaiete Falls (Te Rerekawau Falls), a waterfall about twenty minutes inland. The hike down to Kaiete Falls was very quick—only about 15 minutes—but immediately stunning, as Kaiete is a complex of several waterfalls (one multi-step falls and a classic horsetail at the end). The horsetail waterfall itself was 50 feet tall, opening onto a giant lagoon of water. Since it was still raining, and we were already soaking wet, Matt and I thought, why not?, and decided to jump in for a swim under the falls.
Not until we’d hiked back up to the trailhead did we see the warning sign: no swimming due to microbial contamination. Panicked, and feeling like idiots for our swim, we drove immediately back to the hotel and showered thoroughly (and I popped the antibioticI’m taking for strep throat). So far, we haven’t thrown up or died, so we think we’ve narrowly avoided any disease. [And we later learned from a local that the contamination is due to cow runoff from the neighboring farms—yay!]
The endings of our days have a theme: pure exhaustion. I don’t remember all the details, but after our showers, we somehow struck up the energy to drive to the Tauranga strip for dinner at an Italian restaurant and swim at the hotel’s infinity pool. Check back tomorrow to hear about our dolphin swimming adventures!
