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Tauranga is nestled on the “Bay of Plenty” on New Zealand’s North Island. It is best known as a gateway to the inland city of Rotorua, home of bubbling mud pools and thermal fields. But we had a different agenda today.
We have been looking forward to this port as one of the highlights of our entire world cruise. Twenty-two years ago in 2001, when we took a one-year trip around the world with our sons, we stayed on the working farm of a family that also had two sons of similar age. We made fast friends with Chris and Jen Meban, and have stayed in touch with them ever since. Three years ago in 2020, when we sailed a Regent world cruise, we invited Chris and Jen to board the ship as day guests.
Today, we rented a car and drove an hour south to meet the Mebans at their current home in Rotoiti, outside of Rotorua. The hardest part of this process was getting an Uber to the car rental office. For our international travel, Gail purchased an Airalo e-sim for her smartphone. We couldn’t get it to work at the port, so we ended up using AT&T roaming.
We ran a half-hour late, but fortunately things got better. We rented a Kia hybrid. We have learned from previous travel that Gail drives and Russell navigates. Gail had no problem driving on the “English” (left) side of the road, while Russell would keep calling “Keep left!” every time we made a turn or entered a roundabout.
Chris’ and Jen’s home is right on the shore of Lake Rotoiti, complete with boat dock, boat and swans. It was a gorgeous, sunny day. We didn’t go anywhere. Instead, we just sat and chatted. Jen made a wonderful lunch that reminded us how good her cooking was two decades ago.
We couldn’t believe it’s only the third time we’ve been face to face in more than 20 years. We picked up right where we had left off. We were able to catch up on children, family and lives. The good news is that everyone is doing well. Life is good.
We were only able to visit for a few hours before we had to drive back up to Tauranga. Unfortunately, this is the last New Zealand visit we have scheduled for the next several years. But we will make this a priority again the next time we are here.
