Mt Maunganui on the weekend...

Mt Maunganui in the background and plenty of beach in the foreground

This weekend was out on a road trip to Mt Maunganui and had a neat time with the family. We passed through: Thames, Paeroa (with the big Paeroa bottle by the roadside), Waihi (gold mining history), Katikati, Te Puna and then to Mt Maunganui.

It's been a while since we'd taken our children there and quite a surprise as I can now see why it's become such a hotspot for many tourists with the deep sea harbour that cruise ships dock at. Plenty of roadside beach to take in and full of tourists from all over the world which took me quite surprise and reminded me of Surfers in Australia and Queenstown too. Beachers were packed and with so many youth out on such lovely weather, I can also see why it now beats Auckland as having higher house prices.

Another point of interest was seeing lots of souped up cars driving around the city strip some vintage i.e. 1950s etc neat to see. There was also a big line outside the ice cream shop and fast food shops were full to the brim.

So glad we were out of town for a while to see what's going on just 2 and a half hours out of Auckland...