 This
page is about my first trip down to the Bay of Plenty.
You can see exactly where this is in the North Island on the Maps
Page.
I went down there with one of the very good friends I've made since I
arrived here - Kylie.
Kylie recently left New Zealand to visit the UK!
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 On
the way down, Kylie and I stopped briefly at Paeroa (pronounced 'pie-rower').
This town is famous in New Zealand, as the drink 'L&P' is made
here.
L&P stands for Lemon and Paeroa. It's a sort of lemonade, and is
quite nice!
Here's a picture of me sampling the local drink, by the big L&P
bottle - a real local landmark!
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 The
Bay of Plenty is very beautiful indeed.
The town of Tauranga (pron. 'tow-ron-ga') is the major town
there, which we passed through, on our way to visit Kylie's friends who
live in Papamoa (pron. 'pa-pa-mower'), which is also in the Bay of
Plenty.
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 Here's
a picture of Kylie's best friend Emma.She's really nice, and quite a
good cook!
Next time I visit I'm looking forward to sampling some of her (world
famous in New Zealand!) Pavlova!
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 Emma's
partner is called Jim.
Here's a picture of him.
Emma and Jim made us very welcome indeed.
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 Emma
and Jim have two daughters - Ashleigh and Caitlin.Ashleigh is the
older of the two. Here she is with Caitlin on her knee.  Aren't
they both lovely children!
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 Here's
Caitlin, their youngest, who was there when we
visited - Ashleigh was away at the time - wearing Jim's sunglasses! |
 A
major landmark in the Bay of Plenty is Mount Maunganui (pron. 'mong-a-noo-ee').
You can see tower blocks of apartments to the left in the picture,
which gives you some idea of the height.
I was really keen to go up it, but no one would come with me, as they
thought it was too hard a climb!
Well, it surely was a very hot day...
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 I
couldn't resist it anyway, so I went up on my own.
Here's a picture from near the bottom.
From that point there were two ways up - a hard way (a steep climb), or
an easier way.
I chose the steep way!
It didn't take too long, although I was soaking through with sweat by
the time I got to the top.
It was about 35 degrees Celsius that day, so it surely was very hot for
that sort of exercise.
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 But
it was worth it!
Here's a view from the top of the mount, looking out over the town of
Maunganui, towards Papamoa.
Splendid!
After my little jaunt up the mount it was time to go back to Jim and
Emma's house.
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 They
had arranged a barbeque (widely considered to be the national dish of New
Zealand!), with some of their friends.
Here's a picture of all the kids who were there.
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 It
was really nice to be able to meet lots of new Kiwis and their families,
and have some good food, drinks and laughs.
I made some new friends, and we all had a most excellent time.
Cheers one and all!
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