A Tauranga Holiday in the 1960s by Stephanie Smith

SummaryMemories of a holiday to Tauranga taken by Stephanie Smith and her mother in the summer of 1963-1964. Main BodyTauranga and The Mount: that is what it was always called. My mother and I came here for a week's holiday in the summer of 1963-64, travelling down from Auckland on a slow Road Services bus. We stayed in a private hotel, a stucco-covered house several storyes high, with long narrow windows and cumbersome furniture. I can't place it in the Tauranga of today, but it was within walking distance of the Monmouth Redoubt, the municipal rose gardens, The Strand, and the ferry to The Mount.
Some of these delights were lost on me. The Redoubt, for instance: I had no idea what a Redoubt was; it was just a phrase, 'the Monmouth Redoubt". Perhaps as a result of this ignorance I have no memory of the Redoubt at all, though we certainly visited it. Nor do I remember The Elms. Perhaps, unlike most visitors to Tauranga at the time, we didn't go there.

I remember the rose gardens and the glasshouse, however, all too well. My mother loved painting flowers, and she was inspired by the begonias that flourished in the glasshouse, so she spent what seemed to me far too much time photographing them. It was a serious business. The light meter was deployed and the plants were photographed from every conceivable angle. How I disliked those begonias for keeping me stuck in the stifling glasshouse when I wanted to be outside exploring.