Jazz in Tauranga

On the Saturday of Easter weekend, Nik, Andy, Tony and John finally decided they were sick to death of RAF Peachgrove, so they jumped in a car and headed to the East coast (although when originally asked, Tony thought we were bound for the petrol station). The plan was simple: drive to Tauranga, rent an apartment for the night and spend the day kayaking/swimming in the sea, then hit the town at night. Due to lack of advanced planning, we did not realise until we arrived in Tauranga that the largest Jazz Festival in the Southern Hemisphere was taking place over Easter weekend and there was no accommodation available; forget the exclusive designer apartment, we couldn't even get a 1* flea infested motel room!

As the kayak rental dude packed up shop for the day, we buzzed around the Mt Maunganui area looking for a parking space and couldn't help but feel that our expedition was becoming more ill-fated by the moment....at last a space was found, we changed into our swimwear and bounded towards the vast pacific ocean. We negotiated some ten-foot waves and a moderate undercurrent before heading inland for food and beer.

We sat listening to Dude and the Dudesters (CP16 are huge jazz fans, as you can tell) playing live jazz while we tucked into our gourmet meals and we felt as if we were on holiday; a feeling we had never experienced in NZ! The atmosphere was vibrant, with no shortage of sneaky photo opportunities (courtesy of Andy, as Tony's camera batteries were inexplicably not charged). As the sun set, we considered our options: a) get trashed in Tauranga and sleep in the car or b) drive back to Hamilton and try to avoid the other cadets in town (to preserve the holiday ambiance). The sensible choice saw us back in Hamilton and out dining in the finest thai restaurant in the Waikato. The meal was fantastic, the waitress was gorgeous - at least we had some consolation for being back in Hamilton that night. A good time was had by all and the next time we go to Tauranga, we'll book the luxury aparment a few weeks in advance.

Comments

[Roger Webster]

Pleased to hear Andy's musical tastes have graduated from the delectable B.S. to jazz! Success to CP16 in their forthcoming exams. Thanks to Phil for the humorous website.

Roger