Monthly Archives: January 2026

Tauranga is a city on the shores of the Bay of Plenty. The population of Tauranga is about 63,000. The actual harbor is huge, covering 117 square kilometers. The water year round is about 21 degrees C. This area is a big holiday destination and the streets were crowded with visitors (we assumed local or in country visitors) since schools are still out for the Christmas holidays.

There are no dangerous animals in New Zealand. The waters are safe to swim in. There are sharks, but there have been very few fatalities from shark attacks. All the beaches have lifeguards, but they are all volunteers.

James Cook named the bay when he was exploring this area in the mid 1600s.

The temperature in this area is mild most of the year with highs in the summer in the high 70s and in the winter in the high 50s.

We all think about New Zealand and sheep. In 1987 there were 70 million sheep and 3 million people. Now there are 5.3 million people and 33 million sheep. The reason that sheep are no longer being raised as much is that there is not as much usage of wool any more.

The 2 islands that make up New Zealand are 1,180 miles from tip to tip and at the widest 280 miles. 30% of the land in New Zealand is under conservation. All of our guides were very much into the land and how they want to protect and preserve it. We actually can’t take anything off the ship in the way of food or goods to protect their environment and keep any pests out.

Our tour was to learn about the Māori culture. Up until 1976 there was a ban on teaching the Māori language in schools. The only way to learn was at home with native speakers. Now it is taught in schools and there are even some classes that are taught only in the Māori language.

The three purposes in the Māori culture are: family, connection to the land and respect. When we arrived at the Māori meeting place, the women were the first to enter the compound. Then the men entered, but when we were invited to sit on benches to be welcomed the men sat in the front. One of the men in our group was named our “leader”. As we entered there were 5 young people singing. Once seated their leader welcomed us in Māori, which included his naming the 26 generations of his family that came before. Then our leader was presented with a branch and he said something as a welcome in return. Then he was given a traditional welcome which had him “bumping” noses with all of the welcome committee. Traditionally everyone would do the nose bump thing but because we were there to learn it was just our representative who did the traditional welcome. It is thought that the Māori may have come from Egypt and possibly are the lost tribe of Israel. The first peoples who came were from around Polynesia and it is thought it happened about 10,000 years ago. The Polynesian triangle is New Zealand, Hawaii and Easter Island.

In the meeting building are carvings that represent the ancestors, almost like photos. We could not take photos in the meeting house since it is considered a holy place. There is a big emphasis on each families oral history.

Besides going into the meeting house, we went into a social room where the young people sang and danced for us and we had a snack.

On the return to the port we stopped in another very small town. It had some street art.

Across from where our ship docked was Mount Maunganui.

The Bay of Islands, is a subtropical area on the North Island of New Zealand and contains 144 islands.

This area holds a special place in New Zealand history. It was here in 1840 that the Treaty of Waitangi was signed. This is the country’s founding document signed between the local population, the Māori and the British.

The word, Māori, means one people. The Māori inhabited the east coast of New Zealand for 1,000 years, but did not come to the west coast until 100 years later. All this land is very fertile, made from volcanic stone and ash. The Māori all came from different parts of the Pacific islands, as far as the historians know, none are original to New Zealand.

We are here in early January which is part of the school holidays. In New Zealand there are 4 holidays for school students. This long one around Christmas and then 3 shorter ones spread through the year. Part of the New Zealand culture is to camp. We passed many “holiday” parks and sites to enjoy outdoor activities.

Originally there were no land mammals in New Zealand. There were only birds. But when ships started to come here to trade, rats and cats escaped from the ships. Then they brought in possums to establish a fur trade and rabbits for their fur as well. These animals have become pests, killing the native birds and overrunning the land. Currently the goal is to rid all of New Zealand of these pest animals by 2050. There are clubs in communities who set traps. They even get paid from the government when they turn in the dead animals.

Timber is one of the largest industries in New Zealand. Because of the abundant rain in this area, 3 meters a year, the trees grow very well. A pine tree can grow to full maturity in 25 years where it takes over 30 years around the world. The pine trees are used for lumber, being sent around the world and for pulp to make paper goods. Unfortunately these items are not produced here. The trees are sent to foreign countries to process from raw timber to either building wood or paper and then New Zealand imports the finished lumber and paper. You would think they would figure out a way to process the trees here.

Our first stop on our tour was Puketi Forest. If you remember the wood on the museum, we came to see these trees, Kauri. Originally New Zealand was covered by these trees. They grow amazingly straight and tall. Because of this foreign traders took them down to use for sailing ship masts and wood for building. The trees are massive and the wood from them was used to build many of the original homes in San Francisco. Today only 3% of the forest exists and the trees themselves are protected as a national treasure. These trees only grow on the northern part of the north island of New Zealand. Some of the trees are 2,000 years old. They can determine their age by the girth of their trunk with 1 meter being about 500 years. We did a walk through part of the forest.

Our second stop was a visit to a glow worm cave. The Kawiti Glow Worm Cave is owned by a Māori family and has no government funding, something our guide was very proud of. It was discovered 350 years ago by a woman escaping from her violent husband. She lived alone in the cave for 8 months living mostly on sweet potatoes. We have no photos as they were not allowed. We walked on damp walkways and stairs, with hand held lanterns. Once we reached the center of the cave, the lanterns were extinguished and we could see the worms glowing. The area we were in held about 3,000 but the whole cave has about 15,000. Apparently there is no purpose in their life except to glow and reproduce. A glow worm lives about 365 days.

We returned to the ship after stopping in a very small town.

After a good and long nights sleep we were ready to get going.

We had hired a private guide for the morning, with the intention of seeing the city of Auckland on foot and learning some history of the area and New Zealand.

Much to our disappointment our guide, Mike, was not that informative. Our hotel was in the uptown area of the city center which actually was “uptown”. It was at the top of the hill and so our tour was a slow walk down to the city center. We actually walked through a lovely park that had staircases getting us from one level to the next.

We saw some of the civic building and learned about life in New Zealand. We did talk about some current events and issues that the people who live here experience.

We stopped at a tiled mural that honored women’s suffrage. New Zealand was one of the first countries to recognize women and give them the vote.

We walked down their “high” street, where all the fancy designer stores were located. I was surprised that although it was Sunday these stores were open. At the beginning of our walk, most of the stores and restaurants were closed.

We walked along the harbor which was quite lovely. There were many restaurants and bars along the harbor’s edge. Mike told us that there had been much redevelopment in the last 10 years. The Chinese have built many of the buildings and helped to improve the downtown area and from what we saw it is quite vibrant.

We even stopped at the big fish market and saw the enormous crawfish that is caught locally. The price for 1 was $80NZD which translates to about $48USD.

Mike indicated that the cost of living is high, but the schools and healthcare are what he and his wife appreciate about living in Auckland.

We were able to catch the hotel shuttle back so we did not have to climb the hill.

Tomorrow we board our ship for the real start of this trip.