Visiting Te Puke, Tauranga and Mount Maunganui

It wasn’t a busy period when I worked in Te Puke. As a result, I had times for sightseeing in the areas of Te Puke and the nearby coastal cities, Tauranga and Mount Maunganui.

Since horticulture is the main economic activity in Te Puke, the tourism in the town is still underdeveloped excluding the famous Kiwi 360. By road, it’ll take only 5 minutes to reach the site from Te Puke city. Kiwi 360 provides a place for nature lovers to appreciate the spectacular landscape. Together with Gavin, I visited the parks, orchards as well as the gift shop which offers a variety of beautiful jewelry, skin care and other products. A giant kiwifruit built at the park is an attraction and also a beautiful landmark of Te Puke. It’s so wonderful when we climbed up to the giant kiwi and viewed the surrounding areas from high.

The giant kiwi

Kiwicart touring the park

Kiwi 360

Location: 35 Young Road(beside State Highway 2), Te Puke.
Tel: (07) 573 6360
KiwiKart Tour Hours: 9am-4pm(Summer) & 10am-3pm(Winter)

Tauranga is a popular city situated 28 km and approximately 28 minute drive from Te Puke. The city features superb environmental surroundings for tourism and it also stands out for the cultural attractions. For culture and art enthusiasts, visit Tauranga Art Gallery is a must. Inside the 2-storey building, I had an opportunity to explore many eye-catching both historical and contemporary collections from the exhibitions. 

Railway along the main street in Tauranga CBD

Harbour view

Tauranga Railway Bridge at harbour

View of Tauranga Harbour Bridge over the ocean from far 

On one of the visits to Tauranga, Gavin suggested a meal at a fine dining restaurant, Mills Reef. It just took us 5 minutes on road from the heart of Tauranga. We visited the family owned winery which was established in 1989, of course we’re given the chance to taste the red wines in the tasting room. Next, we selected a well located table at outdoor to enjoy the meal as well as the panoramic environment. I’d say it was the most delightful lunch trip I had in Bay of Plenty.

Mills Reef Building

My plate of seafood lunch

The outdoor garden

Type of flowers grew in the garden

A sculpture displayed in the garden

Mills Reef Winery & Restaurant

Location: 143 Moffat Road Bethlehem, Tauranga 3110.
Tel: (07) 576 8800
Opening hours: 10.00 - 11.30am Brunch ( Sat & Sun)
10.30am – 3.00pm Lunch (Mon – Sun)
5.00 pm till late Dinner (Thu - Sat)
(Tasting Room opens 10-5pm 7 days)
Website: http://www.millsreef.co.nz/

Nestled on the north of Tauranga, Mt. Maunganui is a neigbouring town that’s also a major tourism attraction that interested both overseas and country’s tourists come to Bay of Plenty. These two cities are mainly connected by the Tauranga Harbour Bridge which was built on 1988. Mt Maunganui features a unique geography that offers the ocean beach and harbour beach at opposite sides of the city. However, views at the ocean beach are more attractive to me and there’re more people crowded at the side of the beach especially during summer.

Harbour beach

Ocean beach

The mountain

It’s so refreshing to climb up the mountain; get some fresh air and pay attention to the various floras along the trail. Stood on the peak, we amazed by the gorgeous sceneries showing the city between the beaches.

View taken in the middle of the mountain track

Koru, the iconic plant of New Zealand 



Fern leave



Scenery of the ocean beach and the city from the top



A view of Mt Maunganui city in betwwen the beaches

Job Hunting in Bay of Plenty

Bay of Plenty is an important region of fruits and vegetables growing and it’s particularly recognized for the kiwifruit plantation in Te Puke. In fact, Te Puke is given a name as ‘Kiwifruit capital of the world’. I knew that many backpackers normally will come to the town around April for kiwifruit picking when the season started. Nonetheless, I came to the region on October-November and the only jobs I could find was kiwifruit pruning and kiwifruit flower picking on occasion. The work in Te Puke wasn't steady and I almost had days off more than work days. 

One day, Gavin and I met a Malaysian lady contractor by chance while we're having dinner in a Chinese restaurant in Te Puke. She invited us to work with her in the kiwifruit orchards in Opotiki and she claimed that she could offer steadier works. I actually had never heard about the town before, but Gavin asked me to go there with him and try our luck in any case. Other than working in kiwifruit orchards again, I can’t think of any other jobs available for us at the moment. So, we tried. 

For the first few days, we traveled between Te Puke and Opotiki every day since we still stayed in Te Puke and we took approximately 3 hours for return trip. Frankly, staying in Opotiki wasn't part of my working holiday plan. Allowing for the distance, we moved to stay in the township in the end. There're just a few main streets in the town, the supermarket was limited. Luckily, my accommodation in Royal Hotel was pretty good.

Opotiki town viewed from the Royal Hotel

The works in kiwifruit orchards were the same, we mostly did pruning. Male workers were relatively more than female workers since it’s a pretty tough work. Anyway, Gavin and I stayed at the place just about 2 weeks given that the contractor didn’t provide us what she had promised and worse it’s always challenging to get the pay from her.

Kiwifruit orchard



Kiwifruits hanging with the support of vine

Close-up of kiwifruits



Unqualified kiwifruits



Another one meant to be threw away

The last job I did in Bay of Plenty was kiwifruit thinning in Te Puke orchard again. I knew the job from a friend of mine but it’s much better than the previous ones. Instead of using long and heavy cutter to trim the kiwifruit branches, we only need to pick the unusual kiwifruits and threw them away. Moreover, our new Nepal contractor was friendlier and paid us on time. I liked the latest job but I couldn’t stay long for it as my planned itinerary to other places was about to begin. In fact, this is also the last job I did before I left New Zealand.