Feb 6, 2024: Papamoa Beach (near Tauranga)

My credit card pooped out last while I was trying to order Indian food. It declined my purchase, and getting it going again required a call and password reset this morning because the mandatory two-factor authentication relies on a text or call to a Canadian number (doesn’t work while traveling, does it, MasterCard!?).
To celebrate my success, I made scrambled eggs on croissants with avocado and chipotle for breakfast.

We headed for Mt Maunganui / Mauao – a Mount Doug-sized hill on the peninsula at the entrance of Tauranga Harbour. It’s either the spirit of a dedicated lover, or lump of cooled rhyolite lava that upwelled 2-3 million years ago. Or both. It was certainly a popular place to be on Waitangi Day.
Feb 6, Waitangi Day, is the major national holiday here. It acknowledges the signing of the Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Treaty of Waitangi), a document signed in 1840 by 500 rangatira (Māori leaders) and representatives of the British monarchy.
It had additional meaning this year as there have been motions from some that this treaty is no longer needed. Te Tiriti guides the relationship between Māori and non-indigenous New Zealanders (especially governance, although I understand that the English and te reo Māori versions differ in the specifics). Many people participated at events today to aver Toitū te Tiriti – uphold the treaty.

Not us, though. We walked, sweated, swam, and applied sunscreen.

I attempted some body surfing (ineffective, but fun), and some aqua-acrobatics (effective, and remarkably injury-free).

Goodnight!
Alice