The ship pulled into port and docked around noon. We went down to the Regatta Lounge to meet up with our tour through Oceanica. Our Highlights of Tauranga tour was delayed by 1.5 hours due to problems with the tour company. As a result, when we pulled up to the first stop on the tour, a recreation of a historic village, all the shops had already closed! There wasn’t even anyplace to buy water! Then they drove us well out into the countryside to see a Kiwi Fruit farm. We stopped in a small town community center where we were given tea and a biscuit with golden kiwi fruit on top. Then we got a lecture about the health benefits of kiwi fruit (more vitamins than bananas, apples and oranges). They of course had kiwi products for sale afterwards. Then they loaded us back on the bus to return to the ship. They knew the tour had been a bust and we found a letter on the ship telling us they were giving us a 25% return of the tour cost. They should have given us a full refund! But we did learn how kiwi are grown, harvested, and shipped around the world. They are coming out with a new red kiwi fruit this year that we got to try and it is delicious. Funny thing is, kiwi fruit is not native to New Zealand! It was imported from China in the early 20th century.
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| Kiwi on the vine |
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