Tauranga

Today was a later arrival into Tauranga, docking at 10am, so we slept in until 8am, which meant we could watch sailing into Mount Maunganui from our cabin window.

This morning the Buffet was madness.  We have not been to the Buffet just before docking time before, and it was a bit of a mission.     However, having said that, I must admit I did prefer breakfast there, to the MDR, as most times we were able to have a leisurely breakfast, and it was often a chance to catch up with others.

On the pier it was all sectioned off for Buses only and passengers on foot had to go to the Pilot Bay entrance, where all the rental car companies, private tour companies and others were ‘hawking’ their product or meeting passengers in the car park.   It was mayhem, and very hard to see what was available if you were a passenger looking for a car or tour.   The Tauranga Port Authority has decided it wanted to charge a ‘Licence fee’ to those companies using the wharf, which meant no one wanted to pay, so they have been moved onto the streets - crazy, especially in the height of the cruise season.

We sent a text to Fiona and Bruce to let them know where we were waiting.    We ended up sheltering under the Fishing Club entrances awning as the sun was particularly hot and it was only 10.30am.

Our first stop once on being collected was the local boating clubs repairs yard where Mike Galloway had his catamaran on ‘the hard’ while he was finishing building it.   Mike was very pleased to see us arrive and immediately press-ganged Pete, Bruce and Nic into helping!    Fiona and I drove to the other end of the car park, so we could see the ship and take photos.    The Century was sharing the wharf with the Silver Shadow and the Spirit of Adventure, so it was an interesting contrast in ship sizes!  

Celebrity Century, Silverseas Silver Shadow, Spirit of Adventure

Fiona’s plan for the day was to take is to Te Puna Quarry Park for a walk then lunch.   However when we got there we found that a lot of the paths were not accessible as there were steps, and there was no café, as Fiona had thought.     Disappointing as the Park is very nice and looked interesting.

By now it was very hot and muggy so we drove back to Bethlehem to a small complex which had a nice café, art gallery and antiques shops.    We had a lovely lunch then a walk around the gallery and shops.    There was some excellent painting in display.

On the way back to Fiona and Bruce’s home we went via a couple of Curtain Shops as they are hunting for new curtains for the family bach.

Back home, we had a coffee and copied the photos from our Netbook to their laptop so we could show them all the photos on the 46” TV.     Fiona who is a avid photographer, was very impressed with Peter’s efforts.

While we were enjoying the afternoon relaxing the hot steamy weather gave way to very low clouds and rain – so dense we could not see the other side of Tauranga across the basin.   Of course we did not have any rain coats or umbrellas, as it was beautiful when we left the ship.   Having said that, the forecast was for rain onboard, so it was actually right for a change!

We got back to the ship about 5.30pm, even though the ship was not sailing until 9.15 as we want to go to the 7pm Show and then enjoy Sailaway.   We timed our return perfectly although Pete did need to run (I just motored!) as the showers where fast approaching and a bus was pulling onto the wharf.    We made it just before then next heavy shower.

For the first time, we decided to snack in the Buffet for dinner and enjoyed Pizza.   It was early – 6pm.  Many passengers were still away on tours, some in the MDR so it was very quiet.

Tonight’s entertainment in the Celebrity Theatre was a comic doing Rod Stewart songs.    He was dreadful.   His comic act was out of the ‘ages’ and his singing of Rod Stewarts songs was an insult to Rod Stewart.   It was appalling.   Even so we did still stay for most of the show.   I was sure he was the chap who talked all the way through Danny Elliot’s show a couple of nights ago.

As Colin and Patty were at dinner for Sailaway we went out onto the Promenade for a change and watched the final stages of the gangways being dismantled then the pushing out of the ship from the wharf.   By now it was after sunset and Pete was not able to take any decent photos as the light was too low.

After we had got out of ‘The Heads’ we went via the shops to check the pricing on some duty free Estee Lauder product for Fiona.   Prices seemed alright, but I wanted to text Fiona before buying just to be certain.   The rest of the shops were having their ‘watches, jewellery etc ‘Sale’” and the women pushing and shoving was unbelievable!   Sorry but most of the stuff is cheap junk from China, nothing ‘special’ at all.   The one thing they did have that we were interested in was the Celebrity Polo Shirts, but we were very disappointed in the quality and the rather high price at 50% off they were still expensive!    We did purchase our duty free liquor – 6 bottles of rum, there was no brandy left, only cognac!

We also had to check the photo’s taken the previous night to see if they were any good.  The photo shop was bedlam, but we found ours and one was good, so we purchased it, as well as a photo frame with free photo of the ship.   The frame takes three photos.

By now it was 10.30 so we headed for the cabin and some sleep.

Another calm night of sailing.