Mt. Maunganui (NZL)

16.10.2019 - 18.10.2019

From the Coromandel Peninsula, I continued to the Bay of Plenty to Tauranga. From there, I took a trip to the neighboring Mt. Maunganui.

Due to a closed road, the drive from Whitianga to Thames did not follow the usual route but instead took a gravel road through the (ancient) forest. It was actually a beautiful route, but the very bumpy road made me feel sick....

I then arrived in Tauranga almost without any further incidents - I almost missed the bus because it was parked around the corner and I didn't see it...

Upon arrival in Tauranga, I dropped off my luggage at the hostel and went shopping. For the first time, I visited the New Zealand supermarket chain PAK'nSAVE - quite an experience. The sales area is also the storage area - meaning there are high shelves in the store, with the lower 2 meters being the sales shelves and the rest being the storage area. The store is a combination of a regular supermarket and a wholesale store (some food items are available in large packaging). But the funniest thing was that apparently you can also place orders there - in any case, there were employees with picking wagons and scanners walking around the supermarket and picking groceries :D...

The next day, I took the bus to Mt. Maunganui. The town has beautiful beaches and an extinct volcano. I climbed up the volcano (only 230 meters, but I still sweated when I reached the top) and enjoyed the view.

After descending, I walked along the beach along the coast for a bit before taking the bus back to Tauranga.