Mauao

 

This is an old photo from about 7 years ago when we lived in Tauranga. I think this is a suburb called Bureta? With Mount Maunganui aka Mauao in the background. The supermarket that says "Countdown" has now been changed back to the original name of "Woolworths".

We class Tauranga has being a city now rather than a town as the population has grown significantly over the years. But the real estate prices are through the roof and are very very expensive. We would move back there if we could but it's above our budget.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday and Tom's Signs.

Grey, grey and more grey

 

Photo taken in Mount Maunganui 5 years ago

Our skies here in Greymouth seem to be never ending grey at the moment. Winter officially begins on 1st June and out of the last 2 weeks, we have probably had 1 partly sunny day. I've started taking my winter gloves to work and last week our new neighbour (who works at a sawmill) gave us a trailer load of large logs for the fire - very grateful for our neighbours.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday and Tom's signs.

Upside down

 

One taken about 6 years ago when we lived in Mount Maunganui - so nice to see people laughing and having fun.

It's been a busy week here as Christmas is getting nearer. My work started playing seasonal songs about 3 weeks ago - way too early for my liking but it's incredible sometimes to see what people spend their money on - it's mind boggling to see how much debt they go into at this time of year....and sad. I read last night that one of my favourite pie companies (Maketu Pies) are going into liquidation. Kiwis LOVE their pies and I don't mean the sweet kind. We love savoury pies usually filled with such foods as mince and cheese, or steak and mushroom but my favourite is either mussel pie or seafood pie.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and the Weekend Roundup.

Modern

 

Apartments in Mount Maunganui.

One of the examples of apartments when we use to live in this town - you basically can't buy any property near the beach for less than $1 million NZD now. There's a cafe on the ground level which makes a really nice eggs benedict.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections, Shadow Shot Sunday and the Weekend Roundup.

Lights

 

Back when we lived in Tauranga I use to take photos of just about anything and everything. I find everyday life of others quite interested - call me nosey if you want. This is one of the main streets in Mount Maunganui (by the beach) in Winter.

B and I were talking about moving back to the north island after the mortgage is paid and although Tauranga is probably out of our budget it's still a place of interest, the other area I am thinking of is Whangarei perhaps as I have family up that way but it won't be for a few years yet.

Linking up with Through my lens, Tuesday Treasures, My corner of the world and Wordless Wednesday.

Marra

 

One from the old days when we lived in Mount Maunganui. From memory I think this was taken of construction work going on at the house next to where we lived - they were pulling it down and building a new set of apartments. Just a typical rainy Winter's day. Speaking of rain, now that Spring is nearly here we have had alot of rainy days, the forecast next week for the whole country is rain so we are hoping for a nice hot Summer once it's over.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday, All Seasons and Tom's signs.

Kite

Many of you will have Winter at this time of year especially over Christmas.  For us in the Southern Hemisphere this is our Christmas. Being Summer, many people spend time at the beach.

When we lived in Mount Maunganui I took many photos of people and happenings on the local beach. This boy and his father were flying their kite in the breeze.

When it fell down I could see the disappointment on his face but like a trooper he picked it up and started to fly it all over again. Kite flying is something some families do on warm days for a bit of fun.

Linking up with Through my lens, My corner of the world and Wordless Wednesday.

3 Flags

 

Mount Maunganui, where we use to live is a real tourist town. Over Summer there is usually alot of hire businesses advertising near the waterfront. Kayaking seems to be popular.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday and Tom's Signs.

Exercise

This old photo is one I found in my external hard drive archives from about 5 years ago taken in the middle of Summer on Mount Maunganui beach. There's a wind surfer somewhere in the water but for most part because the beach is so long it was good for taking long walks on. No it's not Summer here right now, we are in the middle of Winter, this is an old photo.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and the Weekend Roundup.

Moving along

An old shot from when we lived in Mount Maunganui from 2016 until 2018. Pilot Bay was a very popular place to launch boat from. Always a busy beach over Summer.

Linking up with Weekend reflections and the Weekend roundup.

Red

One from when we lived in Mount Maunganui - this red flashy car was seen parked outside someone's apartment.  

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and The Weekend Roundup.

Mauao

I'd forgotten about this photo I took when we lived in Mount Maunganui 4 years ago. Sometimes I take random photos of streets and this one is one of the ones near the beach that's full of mostly apartments. In the background is Mauao (which means "caught in the light of day") - it's the sacred mountain based at the entrance of Tauranga Harbour. It's a very popular place for people to climb up as it's quite steep and good for fitness.

Thank you for those of us who have wished us well. Earlier last week my youngest son caught covid off a work colleague, 3 days later B came down with it then my daughter and I got it. So say it's like a mild flu is far from it, B had a mild dose and my son came right from it after 4 days. I never want to go through this again ever, the exhaustion is so great that I had 3 naps yesterday and we have been drinking lemon juice with honey every day plus taking vitamins and we have all been double vaxxed and boosted.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and The Weekend Roundup.

Kewpie Cruises

Kewpie Cruises is a little boat that hangs out in Mount Maunganui. It offers scenic cruises, school trips, Christmas parties, corporate events, private parties and hens/stag parties. When we lived there 4 years ago they were pretty busy but no doubt after the pandemic hit they like most businesses probably quietened down.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and The Weekend Roundup.

 

Island

 One from Mount Maunganui. About the only thing I miss from this town is the beach which is approx 700 m in length so quite a distance. The island in the background is Motuotau Island.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and The Weekend Roundup.

Heart warming and high def

 Another mural from Mount Maunganui - this one is on a wall on the side of this drinking establishment. Painted by artist Kell Sunshine (Kelly Spencer) who has painted street art throughout New Zealand. She is a lettering artist, muralist, illustrator with a big love for Mother Earth. This one was part of the Street Prints Festival 2017.

Linking up with Mural Monday.

H20

 

I found this photo from 3 years ago when we lived in Mount Maunganui. Titled "H20" painted by Ampparitto who is a Spanish artist when he took part in the "Street Prints Festival". The piece depicts 3 plastic cups of water in different positions, an image that stuck in his head during his 35 hour trip from Madrid to New Zealand  (pre-covid). While travelling he had a couple of glasses of water, each in a different part of the world and therefore positioned differently when seen from outer space.  The glasses painted in these cups are filled with 65% water which is the same percentage of H20 in the human body.

Linking up with Mural Monday.

Queues

Simply titled "Queues" - this is from the old days, photo taken about 4 years ago when we use to live in Mount Maunganui. The "Big Wave Cafe" is an iconic feature every day at the beach normally serving people with treats such as ice cream, milk shakes etc, back in the days before Covid when there were no worries about standing near someone, or standing in a queue of people. Been a while...but at the moment Delta seems to be passing through New Zealand at quite an iconic rate especially seeing as we are only a small island nation. With this morning's announcement about the change in alert systems it almost seems like we are going in and out of lockdowns, it would be nice to be able to be consistent in getting back to normal life but with large percentages of people not wanting to get vaccinated combined with our biggest city; Auckland having such a high infection rate at the moment it's hard to say when that will be. 

There have been recent government mandates put out that all healthcare workers must be fully vaccinated so I'm happy I got mine sorted in August and now there is talk of vaccination passports coming out within the next month. I've given up trying to explain to conspiracy theorists that these passports have actually been around for a number of years given that when you travel to an infectious country you have to be up to date with your vaccinations etc but they still think it's all about control and taking over their rights. But at the end of the day there is no point stressing about it, we can only do what we can do at the end of the day.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and The Weekend Roundup.

Motuotau Island skies

 

For us in the Southern Hemisphere today is Christmas Eve - depending where you are in the world we are about a day ahead. Traffic has been bumper to bumper and very slow, supermarkets have been chaotic and people are out and about doing last minute shopping. 2 of my elderly clients (a couple) presented me with a beautiful sheer Summer scarf as thanks for me helping them - made me feel very thankful and I will definitely use it.

While searching for some calm photos in my archives I found this one from when we lived in Mount Maunganui about 3 years ago. This is one of the many paths to the beach and in the distance is the Motuotau Island which was once the scene of a massacre. Confiscated from local iwi after the 1864 Battle of Gate Pa, the island was returned and then later purchased by the Crown. Today the island is a wildlife sanctuary and home to 500 little blue penguins.

I hope you have an awesome Christmas wherever you are, stay safe, kia kaha.

Linking up with Wordless Wednesday, Timeless Thursdays and Skywatch Friday.

Mica Still and the bear

 This photo came up in my memorites on Facebook, I'd forgotten I had it so herewith this bear on the side of a building in Mount Maunganui was painted by artist Mica Still who seems to have an afinity with bears from what I can see on the Facebook page. It's bright, it's colourful but I'm not sure what it's all about.

Well as of this morning we have a Labour led majority government and we couldn't be happier. With roughly full election results it looks like Labour is on 49.5% which means they can govern alone without teaming up with any other parties. I think Jacinda really has done well leading us through Covid so hopefully the next 3 years we can bounce back even stronger.

Linking up with Mural Monday and Through my lens.

KiwiRail in Tauranga

When we lived in Tauranga we use to see trains all the time mostly carrying forestry logs which travel all over the country.  KiwiRail is owned by Shareholding Ministers of the Crown for over 150 years the railways in NZ have connected our communities, delivered products and people and showed off our amazing scenery. 

According to Wikipedia their main freight routes are:

• Auckland - Christchurch: domestic general freight, mostly via 10', 20' and 40' containers and curtain-siders or box wagons.
• Auckland - Tauranga: Containerized and bulk export products
• Kinleith/Murapara - Mount Maunganui: wood products only
• Midland Line: Bulk export coal from north of Westport and Reefton, coal containers for Fonterra, dry and wet milk between Westland Dairy plants at Hokitika and Rolleston, export dry milk from Fonterra at Darfield.
• Edendale - Taieri - Port Chalmers: export milk powder in containers.
• Wairio - Invercargill: solely coal in containers for Fonterra use.
• Invercargill - Bluff: run as a 'shunt', sole freight is exports to Southport.

I did find some information on the Tauranga Historical Society blog which says that the first reference for a railway to Tauranga was made in January 1873 when it was suggested that a line from Cambridge to Tauranga be built, but this was not favourably received at the time. 

In March 1879 it was proposed that any railway to be built should be between Tauranga and Rotorua. The Government couldn’t find the money to carry out this work so The Tauranga and Hot Lakes and East Coast District was formed in 1882 to construct the line. A struggle to raise the capital continued until 1887 without result.

By 1905 the railway from Hamilton reached Waihi and interest was shown in a possible route to Tauranga via Waihi. In 1904 a survey was made from Waihi to Katikati and by December 1908 had reached Tauranga. In March 1912 Sir Joseph Ward, the Prime Minister, turned the first sod on the Waihi-Tauranga line. In 1910 the Government decided to use Mount Maunganui as the headquarters for the construction of the East Coast railway. The first sod was turned by the Minister of Public Works 12 April 1910. The first scheduled trains began running from Mount Maunganui to Te Puke on 10 October 1913.

Today only freight trains rumble along the Strand and over the bridge on their way to the port at Mt. Maunganui. The last passenger train to run in Tauranga was at the Jazz festival in 2009.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday.