BLUE, BLUE, MY WORLD IS BLUE ....

What a beautiful day it turned out to be. More than beautiful it was a perfect as we could have ever imagined. But we needed one – work was especially hard this past week. We got up early and drove to Hamilton to attend the temple there. We arrived about 7:30 a.m. and left the temple about 10:00 a.m. We changed from our dress clothes to our street clothes in a public restroom; then headed west toward the Pacific Ocean. We set our handy little GPS (we call her Sally), because roads here tend to be unfamiliar, at best. In reality they are just more European than Western. (Four right hand turns never gets you back to the point of beginning). We had a lovely and carefree (thanks to Sally) drive through country that we haven’t seen before. We drove through….

Ultimately, we arrived at our intended destination – Mount Maunganui. It is a fun little mountain of volcanic origin. On the eastern side it slopes gently into the Bay of Plenty. But on the Southern side it has sharp cliffs that drop off into the Pacific Ocean.

Typical for most New Zealand public parks, reserves, and forests, the trail to the around the mount was well laid with crushed gravel. Sometime we had to share the trail with more than just fellow hikers, though.

And naturally, we were tempted to leave the trail at times. However, there is some risk involved in doing so. The “litter” left by the rightful residents sticks to your shoes, so you need to keep your eyes on where you are going.

About half way up the east side (the gentle side) the views became just breath-taking. We started taking pictures about ever 15 – 20 steps. (You should feel relieved that I’m not including all of them.

We were not the only ones that we out enjoying the wonderful autumn weather. There were not only sailboats galore, but also every other kind of boat imaginable. But we were told that the water in the bay averaged between 18 – 19 degree C. (65 – 68 F).

As we continued our assent, we worked our way around the southern side to the mount where the gentle slope became rugged cliffs and sharp drop offs. The view here is looking out into the Pacific Ocean with a distant island on the horizon.

The higher we got the stronger the pleasant breeze became. It never became objectionable, but rather helped cool us down from the strenuous climb. Nevertheless we took frequent advantage of opportunities to sit and enjoy the seascape. In this picture we caught a speed boat cutting donuts in the water.

Alas! We came around to the northern side and could see the lovely town of Tauranga below. It has a wide beach of soft white sand, which was being enjoyed by hundreds of sun worshipers (they are too small to see in this picture, as are the surfers riding the breakers).

Not that we needed proof that we made it to the top, but it is always nice to have some evidence (for those skeptics out there). We may have taken longer than some, nor did we run all the way up and back down again, as some others that we saw – Crazies.

On our way back down we took this picture of the Bay of Plenty, where we started our little hike. Have you ever seen such blue water in all your life? I don’t believe I have. We just couldn’t stop taking pictures; two or three at every turn in the trail.

I doubt it is necessary to say that we were more than a bit hungry after our hike to the top of Mount Maunganui. Fortunately we found this little greasy spoon in a small town (known only for what it used to be). Fish and Chips is about as good as it gets – with native cuisine.

To our delightful surprise when our order came it was … Plenty. All wrapped, in typical fashion, in the current day’s newspaper. Almost too hot to handle, and greasy enough to lubricate a tanker, they were delicious. Five huge fish (the size of my open hand), five big fritters (the size of my fist), and loads of French fries (chips) were more than we could eat, so our $8.00 order provide two meals for both of us.

It was a wonderful ending to a perfect day. So we asked Sally to take us home, and she did.