Life at No.22, Snapshots of Tauranga

Snapshots of Tauranga #17

Suzanne

Besides the lovely daffodils around town, new buildings are popping up too. Spring is all over the CBD, and like the daffs, it is blooming if you use your imagination. That’s a heartening sight that should silence the naysayers and sceptics who complain bitterly about our central dead city life, and most of them do not even live in the area. I shake my head at the wonderment of human stupidity and negativity.

A new pathway is being built to connect the CBD with the harbour. More on this at a later stage.

After months of groundwork, the steel supports have sneaked above the hoardings near the beginning of Devonport Rd. Just one of many that have poked up out of the ground seems to be taking on a life of its own.

I glimpse the reflective wall of a nearly complete building. This one is distinctly unique. One of the best to be proud of is 90 Devonport Rd, the largest mass timber office building in Aotearoa. Hopefully, it will net their aim of having a zero carbon footprint during construction, which is no mean feat.

Every Monday, every week, I walk towards and through the city centre to go to basketball. On many mornings, I come across semi-trailers parked by the harbourside, cranes waiting to pull up enormous laminated beams. They looked like they were trying to imitate the Jenga Game, a classic Strategy Game with wooden blocks or perhaps a wooden jigsaw.

As locals, we should unite because we are part of something special. We’re a city regenerating sustainably. I’m sure a few of us eagerly await the opportunity to nosey inside that front door.

I love living in this city, even if it means short-term being amongst all the confusion, chaos, and workers, trucks, and cranes; all the delays and activity down Hamilton St as Te Manawataki o Te Papa, the heartbeat of Te Papa, our new civic precinct, comes together. This includes our much-desired Museum.

Well, my heartbeat is thumping excitedly as I digest that these are exciting times for Tauranga. This place will soon be pumping, give or take a few years. Patience, grasshopper.

Here are a few images of the largest timber building in Aotearoa.

Taken from across the road
Captured as I walk home over Matapihi Bridge
Earlier stage of construction – near Matapihi Bridge entrance

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Published by Suzanne

I'm a lover of creativity and movement, expressed through photography, words, travel and sports. . . . . . .

31 thoughts on “Snapshots of Tauranga #17”

    1. Exactly, Malc and I are sure everyone will benefit some more than others, especially those under 50. Change is difficult for many people. It is a positive when needed, not just for the sake of change itself.

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  6. I completely understand what you’re saying about people who are negative about your home city when they’ve never really taken the chance to get to know it. I feel the same about London. Just a few days ago a cousin of my husband’s was declaring he would never live there or even visit because it is dangerous. It’s no more so than any other city, but how would he know if he’s never been?! It’s great that you’re going to have a museum and what look like some interesting modern buildings 🙂

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    1. Sarah, it’s the usual complaining of infrastructure woes, council spending, and no free carparking. Due to the massive amount of demolition of old buildings and construction, many businesses have left the CBD. We’ve always enjoyed our visits to London. At a wild guess, I think crime has increased all over the world.

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  8. Cities can be beautiful, lively, livable places when governments and citizens invest in them, Suzanne. To many here in the US, New Zealand seems like a place that makes people-oriented choices instead of decisions based entirely on profit. I can sense in your post an unpinning of excitement. Maybe it’s just spring in the air. ❤

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  9. Your post has generated a lot of comments, Suzanne. The building looks beautiful, and your weather looks gorgeous as well. Your post made me curious about Tauranga. I found out that it is one of the fastest-growing cities in New Zealand. With a population of 161,800, it is the fifth largest in New Zealand. That’s about three times as large as Prescott, where I live, and 23 times as large as Woodlake, California, where we moved from. Neither of our towns is dead! So yours must be at least three times more exciting! LOL

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    1. Marsha, the city centre has been classed as dead due to all the construction and changes. With all that happening and the lack of rent reductions retail owners have chosen to move else where. Exciting would be used to view the future potential once everything is finished 🙂
      This post has generated about the same amount of interest as many of my other posts.

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  10. Pingback: Y3 Story Chat #21: The Grand Adventure by Diana Peach – Marsha Ingrao – Always Write

    1. Thanks Jo and there’s much to still love about the place amongst the chaos. Our road is a reasonably quiet oasis on most days especially the weekend. I of course love reading more about a place that holds many memories for us, Portugal 🙂

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