Hiking, swimming, giant kiwis and rotten eggs!

Panoramic view from top of Papamoa Hills hike

Saturday, Feb. 12th.
After Nat’s dolphin swimming was cancelled, we woke up to a beautiful blue sky day.  We scanned the skies looking for signs of the “bad weather” that had caused the cancellation, but it wasn’t overly windy and the clouds were far away on the horizon.  Maybe weather forecasters are as accurate here as they are in Calgary, ha ha ha. 
Got going a bit late after checking out before 10am. Filled up the car with gas, cost over $60NZD, at $1.99 per litre.  We had driven 400km on the first tank. Grabbed a mocha and the most delicious savoury muffin at The Hub, a coffee shop right next to the Shell. Man these Kiwis know how to do breakfast food!!

Path to summit of Papamoa Hill

We decided to leave Tauranga and head southeast down the coast towards Papamoa. Barry found a good short hike in the Papamoa Hills, which would give us panoramic views in the area. On the way, we took a wrong turn (that’s been happening alot in the Tauranga area, which lacks signs for key freeway turnoffs!!) and decided to check out Papamoa Beach beforehand. Glad we did, as it looked like a nice swimming beach, with lifeguards on duty, changerooms and lots of places to sit on the soft sand.  We decided we’d come back here after the hike to go for a dip and relax.


 

View north towards Mt Maunganui

The Papamoa Hills Cultural Park parking lot is right next to an active quarry operation – kind of weird setting.  As usual though, once we started the hike, the scenery was gorgeous and lush, and we were surrounded by ferny trees, tall pines, and the sounds of birds and insects buzzing everywhere. There were lots of Kiwis out for a walk or run as well – they are definitely into trail running here, and again, it’s very humbling when you’re huffing and puffing up their steep paths, only to be passed by a 65 year old runner!
The path climbed out of the forest into some open pastoral hills, where we hung out with the local sheep grazing on the plentiful grass.  The sheep also leave lots of deposits on the trail. Note that dogs are not allowed on this trail because of the sheep.  The summit was reached in about a half hour and we were rewarded with fantastic views out to the ocean, to Mt. Maunganui, and inland to all the orchards and farmland.

Spent the early part of the afternoon at Papamoa Beach, with lots of other beachgoers. The surf was pretty big, and I tumbled over a few times trying to body surf, in only a few feet of water!  The waves were reaching 6-7 feet, and I’d had enough.  The water is actually quite warm, and there are no rocks in the sand.
McDonald’s for lunch, met another ex-Canadian, who’d come to NZ 14 years earlier for a woman – didn’t look like it turned out. 

The giant kiwi at Kiwi 360

Visited Kiwi 360, home of the biggest kiwifruit you’ve ever seen!  Super cheesy, but a place to buy lots of kiwifruit souvenirs and go for a tour. Unfortunately, the tour was a little expensive, at $20, so we skipped it.  After that, we continued inland on the road to Rotorua.  Stopped at Okere Falls where we thought there was a little walk to look at the Falls. We were the dumb tourists who got caught on the wrong path in slimy mud and of course, I slipped and fell on my butt! The path ended up going nowhere so we turned around after 10 minutes.  Our feet and legs were splattered in mud and had to wash it off in the river. Think the “Falls” are actually just a big rapid that kayakers aim for – we saw two kayakers launch down the rapids course.

Arrived in Rotorua at dinnertime, breathed in the lovely smell of rotten eggs that resides in the air from all the geothermal activity, and found a room at the fancy Distinction Hotel. The first room they gave us didn’t have a working fuse, so we had no power.  So we got upgraded to a junior site on the 3rd floor with living room and separate bedroom, for the same price – woohoo!