Walking the Mount

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Slept very well and woke up feeling very rested and refreshed. It took us a while to pack up as we have been here for a few days now and more and more things have been brought in from the car. A few people along the way have recommended Mt Manganui for a visit - it's a small costal town on the Western Bay of Plenty, which is supposed to be NZ's best surf city complete with an artificial reef for bigger waves. With the interest in surfing this looks to be a good place for a day. Drive was only a few hours to get to the 'Mount' and we got there just before lunch time. Both quite glad to get out of the sulphur smell of Rotorua a real pongy town!

Mt Manganui is a very chilled, relaxed, sunny surfer town. Unfortunately there were no waves so we had to settle for a walk up the Mountain instead. At 232m it's accessible and has great views of the surrounding coastline. There were several people paragliding from the top - looking very cool when they landed on the beach, just narrowly missing a group of bikini clad babes and much to the adoration of the clapping lifeguards!

Hit the beach after all the walking - literally straight across the road from the holiday park. Paul fell asleep within 5 mins - it's hard being on holiday all the time! Wasn't too long before it turned a bit chilly so wandered back and enjoyed another BBQ (can you spot a pattern developing!).

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