Tauranga Day #5

12/31/07 – New Years Eve!

Today Jenny and I went to Mt Maunganui to go to the beach and check it out for New Years Eve. We found out that they were having a free live concert along the beach road, but there is no alcohol allowed, so if you want to drink you have to buy tickets for the Sand Bar, which is a bar across the street from the beach. Unfortunately, you have to be there in person to buy the tickets, and since Paul wasn’t with us, we decided to go back to Tauranga, get Paul, get ready, and go back.

So on our way to the bus stop, a piece of glass got on my flip flops and I stepped on it really hard! I had to try 3 times to remove it because it was so lodged in there! Thankfully we had towels with us, so I was able to clot it. We got back to Tauranga and started getting ready. Then we got back on the bus and went back to Mt Maunganui.

We bought tickets, but we only stayed for one drink because we wanted to get something to eat. Almost all the cafes were closed because they didn’t have enough people to work! Thankfully, we found an open restaurant and ate there. Paul made friends with a Kiwi couple and then a Canadian couple joined us too. We had a lot of fun talking, but eventually we all went to the Sand Bar to hang out for New Years. The Canadian couple was here with their teenage kids, and the girl was at the Sand Bar with some guy. It was really funny to see then hanging out together.

At midnight, they had fireworks over the bay. They were pretty good, but not awesome. Soon after midnight we went to the bus stop to catch the bus back to Tauranga, but it never came! So we started walking through town looking for where it might be because we knew it was supposed to be somewhere. I was so drunk that I started crying because I had to pee and we couldn’t find the bus. What a drama queen! :-) Finally we found a secluded spot on the side of the road, so Paul covered me and I was able to go. I was much better after that :)~ Am I really 29?

Finally we saw a policeman and he told us where the buses were. On our way to the buses, Paul stepped on my flip flop and it broke, so I didn’t have shoes anymore. Thankfully I didn’t step on glass again :) We got so lucky. We got to the bus right at 2:00 and were able to get on (with tons of other people) so we had to stand, but it was the last bus, so we were so thankful. We got back to Tauranga and Paul let me wear his flip flops to walk back to the hotel, since his feet are so calloused that he didn’t have to worry about hurting them. What a night!