A Trip to Tauranga.

I love travelling! But I get anxious when it comes to flying or driving long distance. So, how am I ever going to travel again? Hmm..well...I have to keep reminding those that drive to 'slow down', looking at the driver constantly making sure he/she is not falling asleep.

Sadly, when we fly I can't sit in the cockpit staring at the pilot, making sure he/she's not falling asleep or flying us into turbulence. All I can do, is squeeze hubby's hand and say a little prayer before and after take off! and drink some Vodka! Hahahaaha....

But despite all these, we took a trip to Tauranga & Coromandel over the school holidays and yes I kept reminding the husband and my dad to slow down and kept talking to them.
We drove all the way from Auckland - Tauranga. Had two stops:

We had our lunch under this big shade. Mom cooked fried noddles so we've decided to have a fast picnic here. It was nice!..you know, drizzling, cool, eating noddles out of a pot, planing where to go, which route to take, family chit chatting....it was a good start!

Playground stop for J so he doesn't get too bored in the car. This is Waihi - a gold mining town.

Gold was first discovered in Waihi at Pukewa (Martha Hill) in 1878.

Upon arrival, we went straight to the 'information center' to see what we can do, where to eat, where to stay and we also managed to grab a map of the town.

In the evening, we patronized an award winning restaurant - Two Small Fish.
For an award wining restaurant, business was pretty slow that evening. There were only 9 customers including us.

This is my Fish n Chips - $27.-. Portion was huge. Taste was just alright.

Husband L ordered Terakihi pan fried with homemade chow chow, roast potatoes & chick peas & onion fritters - $32.- Taste was just alright.

Mom & Dad shared the Gurnard pan fried with potato & chive croquetes, roast beetroot, pancetta, micro salad & verjuice granita - $32.- Taste was just alright as well. Nothing fancy.

This is J's dinner. Risotto with flounder, prawn, cherry tomato & sweet corn - $16.-. This is actually an Entree but it's a good size for him. It was the BEST meal of the evening and even dad ordered another round of risotto after his main. When dad says it's nice...it's really quite nice! So, we all forked in to try. Yup! Better than my fish n chips...

So, after filling up our belly, we went for a walk around the town of Tauranga. I noticed that there are a lot of shop brands that we can't find in Auckland. There's no Just Jeans, no Cotton On, no Principles, and no Ballentyne (not that I shop in all these stores) but they have mostly private brands and the stores are all nicely decorated!! Very different from the stores we see in Auckland.

We checked ourselves into a 'Spanish Style' Motel - Mission Belle Motel for $200.- a night. The room fits exactly the 5 of us but too bad there's no hot pool to relax in after the long journey... so we took out our laptops instead. Hahahaaha...

J brought his friends along this trip as well. Meet Buzz Lightyear, Woody and Mr. Rabbit!!

(to be continue...)