031220

1500 - We are scheduled into Tauranga about 1600-1630. I just went up topside and a long coastline is visible now. There are also one or two smaller islands on our sides. I beginning to feel excited about the next part of my adventure.

I've been packing since lunch and it is going well though I think it will be chaotic later because I am going to want to watch our arrival and I'm going to go to the Seamen's Club this evening with John to call Sharon and exchange some money. So, when All that's done, I may be still packing up until late. Makes no matter, however. If I don't have what's to be packed right here in my cabin - I won't ever have it.

I just took a GPS position. We're 25 miles off Tauranga now. At 1445 we're at 37.25S, 176.26E.

This morning, I worked on programming again. Things seem really quiet outside now after the storm yesterday. As usual, it is hard to believe that was just yesterday.

I went up on the bridge to use their binoculars. The Captain and the Second Mate, who's on watch now, are both dressed in whites. It all looks very official.

1800 - Been a lot going on these last three hours. The harbor entry (lots of good pictures), the docking (more pictures), customs (nice folks) and talking to my Sweetie (thanks to Antoni loaning me one of his phone cards)! That was nice after two weeks. John's coming by & we're going to the Seamen's Club to exchange some money.


Mt. Maunganui at the Tauranga Harbor entrance lies ahead	Mt. Maunganui City. At the base of the cliffs, I later picked up a lot of great shells (Alicia)	Panorama of Mt. Maungani 1 of 2	Panorama of Mt. Maunganui 2 of 2

Close up of the walking trails on the mountain. Note the Pohutukawa trees blooming red.	Around Mt. Maunganui we can see the harbor itself.	A small statue welcomes arriving ships.	Mt. Maunganui City from the harbor side.

Telephoto of Mt. Maunganui City. A very nice place.	Our tug boat meets us.	The tug boat tied to our side to guide us.	Tauranga harbor ships a lot of wood to Japan.

Entering the harbor proper.	A sister ship of the Direct Tui.	Looking back at Mt. Maunganui and the harbor entrance as we dock.

2245 - Well, things have slowed down a bit. I'm packed and ready, I think. The ship leaves at 1000. I stood outside on the port flying ridge watching the longshoremen moving cargo containers on and off the ship and just relaxing for a bit. Packing can be stressful. I only wanted to take my small suitcase and my laptop and yet there was also a long list of things that I wanted to fit into them. I ended up getting just about everything I wanted to pack into them in.

So, to back up. The harbor entry was really pretty. Tauranga when approached from the sea is quite spectacular. Then there was the docking itself. First time I've watched it all.

I ran into Antoni and asked him how calling from the phone (there's one onboard now that we are docked) worked. He said it was a phone card system and that he'd loan me some time on his card. He got me connected with Sharon and she and I talked. I was a good connection for her but I could barely hear her. I found out that our mutual friend (actually the cause of our getting together), Kathy Goss, had passed away of Cancer. She went quickly into a coma and then departed so it was a kindness.

After talking to Sharon, I went back to packing again but then the steward came and said the Captain wanted to see me in the conference room. This was about 1700. There were two folks there from New Zealand Immigration. A pretty blond surfer-looking woman and a young fellow who might have been a Maori or, perhaps, a mix. Both of them were very nice. They went over my form and wanted to see my shoes to make sure I wasn't tracking in some foriegn nursery dirt and possible plant disease. They also had a look at my knife - they decided that both were fine. The fellow chatted with me for a bit about why I'd come on a freighter and he wrote down that I'd have no fixed address but that I'd leased my campervan from Tui Campers in Auckland.

Then, as I was heading back to my cabin, I saw that they were serving dinner on irregular hours this evening due to being in port so I went in and joined them. After a bit to eat, I resumed packing. John came by and we talked and he was going to go and eat and then come round me up and we'd head off to the Seamen's Mission ashore.

John came and we called for someone at the Mission to come pick us up (a standard service they provide). Nice folks. The Mission is a religious deal but they didn't push religion at all. They exchanged $100 US for me and I bought a phone card for $20 NZ which got me 100 minutes of calling time. To the US, that's a wonderful rate. I called Sharon again and got a clear connection and we had a good talk for about 20 minutes. Some small disasters at home but nothing huge. Kali, the kitten, was sick. The dump truck's engine is fried and Gene and Alicia Whiteside are helping us out (they are so nice!) but putting a new one in for us.

The Seamen's Mission does a nice thing for seamen. The place has a TV, an Internet connection, Games and Ping Pong, a church, coffee and cocoa. It has pool tables and a library. I gave them a $5NZ donation. Nice folks!

They drove us back to the ship and on the way I mentioned taking a bus in the morning so the driver reversed and took John and I to see where the bus station is. Not too far. There's an Internet Cafe just a block down and several restaurants and stuff so if the bus doesn't leave for awhile, I'll be better than fine. I should be able to catch a cab from the shipping yard's front gate to the bus station area easy.

After we got back, I dug into packing again and when I was done with that I took John's offer for a beer up and went to his cabin and hung out with him for about 30 minutes.

Then, as I said, I went up onto the flying bridge to watch the loading and to space out a bit. After awhile, the Captain came out and we chatted about various things - Sadaam Hussein's capture. The near assassination of Pakistan's Mussharif. He said he put the new diskette drive in and it works fine. I congratulated him. Then we discussed the broken E-mail computer. Depending on what happens in Australia, I may get a shot at fixing it with tech support on the line on January 3rd when I back to the ship but we're still tied up here in port.

And then I came back to the cabin to write these notes and soon I will go to bed to sleep and prepare for tomorrow's big adventure.