day 34 – tauranga, new zealand

mt. maunganui and sailboats from the lower promenade deck

i was on in-port manning today… what was meant to be a bang trim at the salon turned into a new cut and all over highlight… whee!  i did my writing, had lunch with one of our new guest artist’s, sally, an electronic harpist from england (now lives in sydney)… nice gal – looking forward to her show – everything from vivaldi to bohemian rhapsody… eclectic! 

had a great night in the piano bar – we boarded 50 new folks in auckland, and they are fairly easy for me to spot since i see everyone walk by pretty much every day – when they do come by, i treat it like whale watching… “look!  there’s two of ‘em!”  then everyone in the lounge says “hi, new people!”  anyway, i met 2 new piano man fans who said “you’re not piano man…”  sigh… i invited them to come by for a song and hope they will… we had several kiwi’s (new zealanders), and 4 of them hung out for awhile – it wasn’t til the end of the night that two of them told me they work for our company and they were going to tell the home office what a great piano bar i have…. yay!  Two other new guys sat in the hall awhile, and then moved into the lounge – they had a great time time, bought me a drink, and it turns out they are two of the other new guest entertainers on in auckland… so we are off to a good new zealand stint with some new piano bar friends… tonight’s theme was “how sweet it is…” and featured songs with references to sweet things (like ‘candy man,’ ‘sweet caroline,’ etc.)… I had a full house for my busy times and it tapered off at about 11:30. 

the captain came on the PA tonite to let us know we would be running into the tail end of a tropical storm as it was dissipating and to expect moderate to larger swells (4-5 meters), so he advised everyone to secure their belongings in their cabins... usually i catch the first part of the 8 o’clock show on my break, but tonite i went to my cabin and put all my stuff away in drawers and cupboards so it wouldn’t go flying off my desk or sink… it was pretty swoopy, but i kind of like that, and i’m guessing it was more like 3 meters… no major listing… i slept like a baby, tho!  the captain said conditions will dictate whether it is safe to dock at napier tomorrow or not, and we will find out then… crossing my fingers!  ciao for now, df

port song for tauranga, new zealand

(to the tune of the verse and chorus without bridge of tom lehrer’s “masochism tango”)

today i did not go ashore dear, it was my turn today to stay on board here

and so here am i, if something should go awry,

i’ll be here on duty in tauranga

wikipedia is my only resource to engage in any thoughtful port discourse

it’s the largest export port,  in the land, long and short,

an economic hub it is, tauranga

some fruit they grow, like kiwi, don’t you know

and the humble avocado and vineyards boutique

and there’s the lovely hybrid tangelo,

a cross of tangerine and grapefruit, how unique

it’s population is overflowing, no one knows why everyone here is going

maybe it’s water sports or that you can wear shorts

pretty much the whole year round in tauranga

it’s a main new zealand centre of fashion; their jazz festival in spring is simply smashing

i’d like to party here when they ring in new year

at mount maunganui in tauranga

white island and mauao are dormant volcanoes

but others here could blow and that could ruin your day

if you are rich and live in papamoa

then in your great big yacht you could prob’ly get away

surfers can surf all seasons four here, and marine enthusiasts like to explore here

of course the cruise ships bring us travellers on trips

so we’ll spend our tourist dollars in tauranga

on a faultline the town is situated, the seismic activity here is slightly inflated

it must make life more exciting, the thought of igniting

from volcanic eruptions in tauranga

i won’t miss many, new zealand ports are plenty

if i don’t see tauranga i guess i’ll be ok

and i will save all my new zealand pennies

to go and get some great thai food in napier the next day

in cannibal days of their history, they would eat us here if they were at all pissed you see

but then europeans came and introduced guilt and shame

which changed the diet of people in tauranga

perhaps they could still sacrifice strangers, down live volcanoes to avert nature’s dangers

that would be a blast, indeed our very last

what a hot time it could be in tauranga!