Saturday 11th March

This morning we arrived in Tauranga on the Bay of Plenty right in the top, centre of the North Island, on a very grey day in pouring rain. As the port is about 7k from the main town we took a shuttle bus into the town at about 10am. After a coffee we went into the library for the internet but couldn't get a connection. We crossed over to the Art Gallery, a fine building but with a fairly uninspiring collection & then wandered along a few streets searching in vain for a supermarket.

On our return we retreated to the library once more & had better luck.

Luckily for us the rain had ceased although it still looked threatening. We caught the shuttle bus back to the ship & got off near the port gates to wander through the shops of the port area. After a coffee break we walked back to the gate only to find that pedestrians had to use another gate about 1k further away. We really should have known this as last time we were in Tauranga we had walked the route on our way to Mount Maunganui & the headland at Motoruki. Eventually we got back to the ship & had a rest.

The entertainment was by an English song & dance man, Peter, who put on quite a show with the ship’s band who were excellent.