Friday and Saturday were spent catching up, and sightseeing – we even checked out the huge cruiser liner, Sapphire Princess, the biggest ship to call at New Zealand, as a possibility for our honeymoon! The surf at the ocean was a little rough for us wee people, so we went to the harbour, at Pilot Bay.
And we met the Mayor of Tauranga in a nice restaurant…
Saturday and Sunday it was all on – a house full of guests, and the 45th Annual Tauranga Jazz Festival where I met Bob Clarkson, the local MP, and we were special guests at the Telstra Clear promotion hospitality tent – rather fun, that! But AW wouldn’t let me drink, and she only had orange juice, too…..
I enjoyed one of the Jazz bands, Tauranga group Kokomo, who played cruisey bluesy music and Grant Bullott gave us a DVD, signed by all the band, for the auctions….
On Tuesday I bade farewell to my lovely Gnorma Jean for some time – she was off to Auckland to revel in TopRank’s blingbling, then she’s off for an extended tour of the USA, meeting celebrities.So sad to see her go, but so glad we had this time together – it was special.
Gnorman and Beatrice, a Cancer Society bear
I met the world-famous-on-Trade-Me Tauranga cat called Gordon, too – nice chap, consoled me, and cuddled me to his ample bosom – he was rather keen on the bell on my cap, too.
My last visit was with the charming and compassionate Peter Brown MP (New Zealand First Deputy Leader), and then… oh, dear! – I was back into my travelling compartment, to be transported down to Wellington.
Contributed by autumnwinds
