Wednesday, Day 32 - Feb 7 - 8am to 3pm, Rotorus, Tauranga, North Island, New Zealand

Rotorus is the center of a large citrus and sub tropical fruit-growing area and is a favorite base for deep-sea anglers. Across the harbor is the major port for the region, Mt. Maunganui, which is also the major overseas outlet for the vast timber industry established in the center of the North Island. Tauranga has become a rendezvous for thousands of holiday makers to whom the lure of its sun-baked sands and sparkling waters prove an irresistible attraction. This is a new port for us. Our plan is a free ship’s tour to some local wineries, Tauranga Highlights & Wine Tasting starting at 9:30am for 3 1/2 hours. It includes a drive across Tauranga Harbor to Tauranga, the principal city of the Bay of Plenty. Tauranga's founders, a group of 19th-century missionaries, left a legacy of well-planned parks and gardens for the benefit of future residents, a drive by the Monmouth Redoubt 
en-route to the Elms Mission House, built in 1847 by Archdeacon Brown. There is a guided walking tour through this historic Georgian-styled home and surrounding gardens. Then onto a scenic drive through Tauranga and past Gate Pa, where the last major battle between the British and Maori people took place in1864. Also included is a stop at Minden Lookout for a great panoramic view over the Bay of Plenty and then sampling a few award winning wines  at Mills Reef Winery.

Both of us are in the depths of a cruddy cold but Dick is slightly better off than Carolyn.  Our tour is to meet at 9:15AM and Dick decides to give it a try. Carolyn passes but goes to breakfast and then Dick heads out for the tour and scores a seat at the very back of the bus on the right-hand side.  He has a big window all to himself.  The bus is modern with comfortable seats but the AC only thinks it is working.  As predictable, an elderly woman who has not been able to stand the heat on some of the island tours is dressed in a down jacket zipped to her chin and is still complaining of being cold. The temperature is 71F!  Dick is sweating and many people are fiddling with the AC vents above their seats trying to get some air movement but to no avail. One wonders what her perfect temperature must be! It is actually pleasant outside the bus in a breeze but the bus windows do not open and it is unpleasant inside.

Our first stop is the Mills Reef Winery which also sells wines under the Hawke’s Bay label.  The winery sits in the middle of a pleasant, new neighborhood of single family homes.  All the vineyards were removed and the land sold off.  Grapes are now brought in to the winery from the South of the North Island and the North of the South Island for processing.
Dick likes most wines and decides that the cold has thrown his taster off because all the wines taste like vinegar today.  He hears very favorable comments from some of the other people on the tour.

From the winery we proceed around the bay to “The Elms,” the former Te Papa Mission Station, established in the late 1830s.  Here is where Anglican missionary, Rev. A.N. Brown and his family settled.  Both he and his wife learned Maori and were accepted by those people.  While not a true doctor, he was a healer and walked a 600 mile circuit once a year preaching and treating the ill. 

Their home once had a beautiful view out over what is now the port but the port land was reclaimed by filling after WWII and the home now sits on a bluff overlooking this industrial area.  The home contains many artifacts and much furniture original to the home as it was occupied by the descendants of the Brown family until the 1970s and was then taken over by a local “heritage society” for preservation.  All-in-all an interesting place to visit.
Back to the ship shortly after noon and a bite of lunch.  Giving in to our ills, we nap the afternoon away before going to dinner at 6:30PM having missed the traditional “Welcome Aboard” cocktail party.  Back to bed about 8:30PM with hope that our low grade fevers will break and our laryngitis will not get any worse.