As mentioned previously, we were originally going to stay in Rotorua for 5 nights and head up to Mount Maunganui in Tauranga for the day, but decided we may as well stay the night there as it looks so nice.
As we drove into the town, we were not disappointed! We managed to book into a holiday park right at the base of the mountain which was perfectly located next to the beautiful beach, cafés and obviously the mount itself.
It was a lovely day so we spent much of the afternoon strolling, laying (and subsequently kipping) on the beach before I had a walk up the mountain. Hannah’s seen off the worst of her pneumonia, but with it being a lung infection, she decided it wouldn’t be a great idea to start climbing things! So she chilled out in Tommy (the campervan).
The walk to the summit was genuinely stunning from start to finish… I think I must have got the camera out every 0.5 seconds! The views from the top though were really amazing. Mount Maunganui (the town) is such a unique shape as water surrounds the narrow stretch of land that extends out from the mainland, making it extremely picturesque from a high vantage point.
After my walk, we went in search of food. We didn’t have to go far though as we ate at a place called Pronto Burger, about a 30 second walk from our van! I wouldn’t normally go into this much detail about our day, but my ‘ultimate kiwi burger’ was genuinely one of the tastiest burgers I’ve ever had! It was pretty unexpected as it’s just a small eat-in/takeaway joint on the waterfront, but DAMN it was good. Big chunky beef covered in some tasty mystery sauce complete with onion rings and fries. I almost considered another for breakfast the next morning!
Moving on from that taste-sensation, we then embarked on a rather special evening. The beach was looking stunning as it sat under a falling sun and colourful sky, and so we went for a stroll. Mt Maunganui is probably my favourite place in New Zealand so far, and it was just such a perfect evening, so I finally decided to pop THE question!
I bought the ring from Auckland about a month ago and wanted to do the deed at some point during our travels and this night just ticked all the boxes. Anyway, she said yes and we’re now engaged!!
This is where Hannah starts thinking about wedding plans and I start thinking about stag plans 
Vegas anyone?!
So yeah, this was a lovely stop and in hindsight, we would have stayed there longer, but we’ve had the nights over new year booked in Gisborne for a while now, so it’s on to stop number 5!