We are looking to live in the Bay of Plenty, more specifically The Mount as the locals know it. We have been busy looking for a furnished rental. We are using TradeMe and a bunch of reality companies in our quest to find a place to set up. Some of these ads have been for a flatmate (roommate) which would be cool as you get a built in person who knows some of the local stuff already. We have also inquired at a few apartment complexes, which isn't going to work unless the unit has a phone line and direct broadband access. Um, one of us has to be connected constantly to work remotely. Then there are heaps of houses that we have looked at from 1 bed rooms to 3 bed rooms. Some of these have been sweet as (local slang) and if you come to visit you could crash in the spare bunk or twin bed. All of the places, even though they are close together, are really private. Most have a fenced in yard with a small patio. Only one place so far had a grill. If we get a house, I want to build a smoker so I can make some BBQ.
According to our lonely planet book: The Mount was named after the hulking 232m hill called Mauao, which translates as "caught by the light of day". This is a pretty swanky area of approximately 18k + 2 that has the trendy feel of Uptown mixed with small town main street and the smell of a laid back surfer. For those that know me, I like to eat. The food choices here are very international, but also have local cafes. I have seen one food stall, Crazy Chicken! Which I must try.
For instance, Beth had Swiss food and I had Japanes (intentional spelling) yesterday for lunch. The area is a vacation hot spot for many people from Auckland during the summer. A store I was very interested in was the Specialized bike store as I'm looking for a bike. They also host many group rides. A good way to meet like minded people. The road rides look pretty awesome from their posted sweet rides. There is also mountain biking to be had in the area which looked tempting. Rotorua, which isn't that far away, is known for their mtb rides so I might have to go up there and hire a bike as I can't take a bike on the bus unless it folds. The elephant in the room is the beach! The beach is never far from any place in The Mount and it has a 100m artificial surf reef not far offshore, which we plan on utilizing as we learn to surf. We walked part of the beach last night and it is very fine volcanic sand. I'm going to guess that they water was about 65 degrees yesterday as I dipped my feet in.
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