Leaving the Coromandel Penninsula after a relaxing day catching up with family and starting the dreaded job search, Liz and I head for Mount Manganui. Mount Manganui is the smaller, cooler, hipper surf town on the coast right outside Tauranga, the fastest growing city in New Zealand and New Zealand's largest port. Since, lets face it, Liz and I are all those things (besides surfers) we knew it was just the town for us. And boy, was it that. As we were driving in, we could see a large hill, mountain if you will, standing alone in the distance and we knew that must be our destination.
As we arrived in to the Mount, as the locals call it, the first thing that welcomes us is an Irish pub, happy hour signs and a cute town centre strip filled with cafes, pubs, shops and takeaways. As we drove around the town as we usually do first to check everything out and get our bearings straight we passed more and more things that made us continually say "this place is SO cute!"
Soon enough we made our way to the coast and to the holiday park that would be our home for the night. By this time we were ready for some cold beers and decided to treat ourselves to a night out on the Mount. So we freshened up, which is a rarity these days camping and a real treat in itself, and headed to town which was a short walk away from the camp site.
First spot was Mount Manganui brewing company that featured beers brewed right in the Mount. Liz went for the IPA and I went for the dark IPA. Both were delicious and as an extra bonus, they had a deal going on until 5 (pre happy hour) if you buy two beers you get a free order of chips/fries (so all our audiences know exactly what we are eating). This pleased us two with our backpackers budget of course. Not only did we get the free chips, but when we were ready for our next beer, it was after five and there real happy hour begun. We tried two new styles. I went for a honey lager that the bartender recommended. I was first hesitant of it being to sweet, but it too, was very tasty.
After Mount Manganui Brewing Co. We headed to check out the Irish pub, since we really haven't been to one since Ireland, but we really were not that impressed so had one and carried on to Major Toms, a real cool bar Liz had found in Lonely Planet. We first walked in to an empty bar, but that didn't deter us from this cool homey bar with couches, walls filled with books, lamps hanging from the ceiling and a friendly bartender greeting us. Although it was a quite bar we really enjoyed it and used the free wifi to make a couple phone calls to my brother, Chase, and our friend, Dustin after careful consideration of who would be up and answering there phones at such a crazy hour in the States. So anyone who got late missed calls from a weird number, possibly from Palmdale, CA, you now know who you missed.
It was now getting a bit later and we were getting hungry. After spotting a bright Mexican restaurant we went in for hopes of good cheese dip and margaritas. Both failed us and instead we got over priced tiny margaritas and a $15 cheese dip with no flavor and seemed more like thick melted cream cheese. Once we finished, disappointed, we headed across the street to our next stop, Post Bank. A bar more similar to Major Toms with comfy seating all around but here, every surface of the wall was covered in books, like floor to ceiling covered, including some cool old New Zealand books Liz and I enjoyed looking at. It also had other people, something Major Toms didn't have. After looking at the drink menu filled with fancy cocktails, including old fashions, we were both sold both having a love for a good old fashioned. Once again, ordering cocktails did not serve us well. They were very watered down and very sweet. Luckily the atmosphere was still good enough to keep us from being to disappointed but home we headed after that and a mental note to stick to beer and wine while in New Zealand.
In the morning, we woke with the sun, relaxed for a bit, made breakfast of toast and eggs scrambled in the microwave, and had coffee in the campsite kitchen, which are always nice to come across. On our way out we stopped at a variety store where we were able to purchase some needed essentials such as laundry detergent, a stove for camping and some cooking essentials to make meals on the road much more enjoyable and continued our way south to Matamata.
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