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We left Napier and were on our way to Mount Maunganui by Magic Bus with a great stop at Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland in Rotorua. We had 1 hour to walk through the geothermal park before boarding the coach again. The park was a very colourful and diverse volcanic area with pools, lakes, craters, steam, vents, and mineral terraces. We also saw bubbling mud pools. It was very unusual and a great experience to watch.
We continued onto Mount Maunganui known for it's dormant volcanic cone that erupted many years ago. It stands at 232 metres high and is the focal point of the coastal Bay of Plenty region.
The town is relatively small but has enough bars and restaurants to keep most people happy. If that wasn't enough there is a neighbouring town called Tauranga, currently the fastest growing town in New Zealand, which is only 3km away. Tauranga is bigger than Mount Maunganui with it's shops, bars, restaurants and a port regularly used for cruise ships to drop anchor.
We soon arrived into town and were checked in by a very friendly owner of the hostel. He gave us coffee and biscuits!! Something we didn't find elsewhere!
Not long after stuffing our face with biscuits, we were on foot exploring the town. We didn't get far as we found a bar with a pool table!
The next day we took a bus to Tauranga to have lunch and to meet Nicole who we spent the night with sleeping at Sydney airport whilst waiting for our connecting flight! Nicole told us she was spending some time in Tauranga where she hoped to find a job. We text her to make sure she was still in the area and she replied back to say she was working in a bar and asked us to come over. We spent some time chatting to her but not long enough as she needed to get back to work.
The following day we went on a fishing trip with a boat full of experienced fisherman......and us! We were able to hire the rods and buy the bait on board. We caught 8 terahiki fish. Our boat driver filleted our fish so it was ready to wash and cook. On the way back to our hostel, we bought some vegetables to go with the fish!
The evening was spent cooking our fish and, kumara potatoes, peppercorns, lemon, vegetables etc etc. When we dished it up we looked like professionals who knew how to cook! Many backpackers in the kitchen commented on our dish and believe us it looked and tasted great. A complete fluke mind you. We're normally rubbish at cooking.
The following morning we strolled along the beach and walked up Mount Maunganui. The walking tracks were pretty steep in places but it was well worth the view. We found many runners passing us by making us feel really unfit! That said, we left some young Brazilians behind as we trudged up to the summit so felt a little better.
After the walk we had a light lunch and then we were off on a coach to Whitianga.
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