First Weekend Off

Even though I was tired from my first week of working I wanted to take full advantage of my weekend off. On Saturday Jen took me for a practice drive into town. We had to pick up a few things so if was the perfect opportunity for me to get a few hours of driving in. When we made it back home I dropped Jen off and continued to drive back into town by myself. The hardest thing for me to get use to is that I shift with my left hand and having my turn signals on my right side rather than the left like they are at home. My main goal was simply to familiarize myself a little more Rotorua so if there is anything that I need I can find it pretty easily. I drive a 1997 Ford Lazar and its not the prettiest car to look at but it sure is fun to drive.

I didn’t really have a plan for Sunday… So I basically got up and pulled out a map of New Zealand and decided that morning where I would go. Back home I went to the beach quite often but haven’t been able to make it in about 3.5 years so my goal for the day was to make it to the beach... So I decided that I would drive to Tauranga. I spoke with Jen before I left and she said that Mt. Maunganui was something that I had to see. Around New Zealand they refer to it as “The Mount” and it is located on the tip of the port by Tauranga.

On the drive up there I took a pit stop in Te Puke which is the Kiwi fruit capital of the world. There was a gigantic kiwi that I had to take a picture of and gift shop that I had to explore (I’m such a tourist haha). Basically that was all to see in the little town of Te Puke. When I got back on the road I followed signs to Papamoa Beach which took me off the main highway to a road that drove me up the coastline straight to The Mount. I parked my car and walked onto the beach. It was partly clear and partly cloudy with a little bit of rain and some wind but the temperature was good. There wasn’t too much of a crowd but I could imagine there would be in the summertime. There were a few people surfing which I’m looking forward to learning how to do. I might wait for it to get a little warmer though.

After walking along the beach for a little while I decided to hike up to the top of The Mount. There were quite a few trails to choose from and I’m assuming all of them would have great views. I followed the main path up to the summit. Got quite a good workout from the hike but it was well worth it once I got up to the top. The view was incredible… You could see the entire coastline as well as the city of Tauranga. I’m still surprised with how clear the sky is. The only thing that I was looking forward to was that beach smell you get when you go to the coast in the states and there was none. But I got over it pretty quickly.

I made it home by 6pm and my family and I drove into Rotorua for dinner. We ate at the Lone Star Restaurant which is one of my family’s favorite places to eat because it’s the only place that plays country music in town. The food was good and I enjoyed spending time with my Aunt, Uncle and Cousins. All in all it was a great weekend. Now that I knew what to expect for the next week of work I was a little more mentally prepared for it