Papamoa Beach, Bay of Plenty, New ZealandPapamoa
A relaxing start
As the last days we got up to
clouds in the sky –we started a relaxed morning. A quick stop at Kmart (as Paul
needed a belt!) and we were heading north through some boring area (we miss the
super cute hills). But we did have a nice view on a volcano. As we drove
through Tauranga, we discovered that this is a big city and it has a huge
container port.
I may mentioned it before, that
here in NZ they love traffic circles – I don’t think we drove ever through so
many and they also have the back-to-back traffic circles…
Minden Lookout
Our first stop today is at a
lookout, from here we can see all over Tauranga towards Mount Maunganui – we
will be there as part of the cruise.
Te Puna Quarry Park
- In 1864 they confiscated the land from the Maori and in 1911 the quarry started, the rock was used to make roads and breakwaters, in 1973 they stopped using the Quarry
- In 1993 they formed the Te Puna Quarry Society and finally in 1997 they started with the work, it was in 1999 when they designed the garden with the special interest areas like bromeliads, cactus, heritage roses (by the way there is also an African Section – but we didn’t see it)
Gine read about it and it sounded
really cool with sculptures and gardens in an old Quarry. Already in the
parking lot we saw a cool sculpture and then Paul climbed up into one of the
old Quarry diggers (even the steps up to it were super cool). And then we got
already sidetracked as there was a waterwheel, a little pond and some more
sculptures. And the walkway here was made with Terracotta stones each one was
individual by someone made – so super cool (but then the whole park was made by
volunteers). Let’s explore
- Hertiage Roses: we walked up this path and came to a lot of cool roses and also a super cool view a super nice little garden with more sculptures and flowers. I may should mention you can nearly get lost here, as there are so many pathways going somewhere (we brought along a sculpture map and then checked the sculpture picture to find out where we are).
- From here we went up a lot of steps and by the way it is super humid!!! Nice views lots of bromeliads – more cool sculptures and we ended up at the Japanese garden (we didn’t continue on the main path – as the sign indicated that you can’t walk through because of fallen trees). We continued on through the Fuchsia garden (we didn’t know there are so many different ones – and they are so pretty)
- Butterflies: there were two “butterfly houses” but they were overgrown and not used for butterflies – but the flowers around here attract a lot of butterflies and we saw some pretty ones. Here was also a big bell and yes Paul let the whole valley hear that we are here.
- Bromeliads: heading down through some super pretty bromeliads and as well from here we had a super view up to the top of the Quarry and we ended up at another highlight:
- The Cactus garden: there are some super huge ones all planted around a nice grassy area into the sides of the rocks with the fern trees in between – we both loved it.
- And we maybe missed Hobbit town because we decided to skip this “major let’s hurry you through tourist attraction”, but we did found a small hobbit house right here
- Musical garden: was a super place to have a lot of fun – and Paul became a real musician – playing on each one of them (we recorded a bit but we are not sure if it is really good enough for publishing)
- Dinner Plate Fig Tree: we saw a lot of cool plants – but this one is clearly our favorite – the leaves are huge – I mean giant with the fruits in between, we never saw such a unique tree (which is native to Papua New Guinea).
- After having fun with a little train and some more cool art – we were heading down right underneath this cool tree. And as we walked down, we had to keep our eyes open as there is always some art work hidden in between the plants. We even found the old storage area for the explosives!!
- Dragon: and before leaving we decided to do a circle around the parking lot and because we drove into the wrong road we discovered a super cute Maori-style gate, and the dragon!!! I mean that thing is huge and super cool, and we found the wishing well
As per Gine we have now a lot of
ideas for our backyard and we had a lot of fun in this Park which was super
cool, not overrun by tourists and can you believe it: for free - let's not forget we didn't even see all of it!!
Traffic jam in Tauranga
We should have been within 15
Minutes at the supermarket – but it took us over an hour – because we were
stuck in a huge traffic jam, and no there is no detour as we have to go over
that bridge!!! But we did it!!! And arrived to a super late coffee at our
Airbnb.
And we still got some time at
the beach
Should we still go to the beach?
Gine said yes, because you never know how the weather will be tomorrow – and as
it is only a 3 Min drive to the beach, we went there. Here you have super nice
sand dunes behind the beach and like yesterday an endless long stretch of sandy
beach as far as you can see and nearly no people.
Another thing we realized is that
here nearly all beaches have lots of waves – you can’t only go in the water and
swim – they are surfer beaches or for wave jumping – and let’s not forget the
water is fairly cold (nearly like at home). What is fun here is to walk along
the beach to enjoy all the sand dunes and as well you can be on the beach and
you don’t feel hot, as you always have that nice fresh breeze.
The famous Papamoa beaches:
- When we drove into the town the signs said Papamoa – the Sunshine Paradise (let’s hope we have all that paradise) – it is the fastest growing area (today 25.000 live here) – no wonder as it is so pretty
- This is one of Tauranga’s beach suburbs (the 1st one we will visit on our cruise) with a long beach: 16 km long (that would be a long hike if we walk the entire length)
- You have grassy sand dunes as far as the eye can see
- By the way Papamoa beach is a clothing-optional beach (guess that is why Paul discovered a top-less girl) – and it is important to remember public nudity is legal on any beach in NZ (but not to be sexual activity). In 2012 they wanted to do a world record in skinny dipping and on Dec 2nd 299 people went naked into the water. Guiness world of records did not accept as all swimmers would have to be in the water at the same time for a group photo
2025-05-23