We had a fantastic tour of the Tauranga area today by A Day in the Bay tour company, a dynamic duo of retired teachers, sharing their love of the region, great information and exciting sights. We started off just outside of the cruise pier, a group of 10 from both our Princess ship, and an NCL ship that was also in port. There were 6 Americans and 4 Dutch participants, along with Meg, our guide.

Tauranga sits in a beautiful bay, on the east side of the North Island. We started our tour with a short drive of the Tauranga area, including past Mount Maunganui, where just weeks before, a mountain slide killed 8 campers. Out of town, our drive to the geo-thermal park of Wai-o-tapu took about 75 minutes. As mentioned in an earlier post, New Zealand sits on top of two tectonic plates; the Australian plate and the Pacific plate, making the country very susceptible to thermal energy, volcanic activities and earth quakes. There are hundreds of geysers, hot springs and mud pools in the country. Wai-o-tapu is a large park with all types of thermal activity and provides several hikes, between 1 – 3 miles on raised walkways.

First, we witnessed the Lady Knox geyser erupt. This geyser would normally erupt every 48 hours. But to allow the most persons to witness it, they “encourage” it to erupt daily at 10:15a, by putting some detergent in the hole. Seriously. A young Maori woman narrated and sang a traditional Maori song while it blew sky high. It was lovely. Afterwards, Meg provided a nice brownie snack and water, while we let the crowds dissipate.

Next, we visited the hot springs and were especially impressed with the multitudes of colors, due to a combination of high-temperature, mineral-rich water and thermophilic microorganisms. The pools are full of sulfur, silica and iron oxides, as well as some crude oil, making for some especially vibrant colors. We enjoyed lunch at the park, before heading to our next stop.

A major industry of New Zealand is timber, and they sell a lot of it to China and Australia. Redwood trees love the volcanic soils and grow quite tall in just 20 years’ time. Our afternoon stop was to the Redwoods Treewalk, where 100+ year old redwoods and silver ferns can be viewed from a bird’s eye perspective. The walk is a raised pathway, 75 -100 ft above the forest floor, using 28 suspension bridges and landings.

Not everyone in our group wanted to do it, but those of us that did had 45 minutes to complete the course. Sharon did not love it at first and thought maybe she had made a mistake. However, after a while, she got used to the motion and settled in to enjoy the scenery. Marshall would have run the course, if he had been allowed. The trees were magnificent from this vantage point and soon we were back to the starting point.

We thoroughly enjoyed this tour and would highly recommend it. Meg was informative, funny, kind and patient. She brought a teacher organization and sensibility to the day, making the pace great. On the way back to the ship, she gave everyone traditional New Zealand “lollies”, which are small candies. It was a perfect end to the day.

Tomorrow: Sea Day

Recommended: A Day in the Bay, https://www.adayinthebay.co.nz