I was travelling through a bit of the North Island with my family on a road trip and we stopped over in Taurange for the night. It's one of my favorite beach areas and we stayed on the Tauranga side (not the Mount side). With two little kiddos, we were up early and went to The Strand area in search of coffee (and breakfast, but mostly coffee). It was proably a little before 8:00 am and there were no souls to be found, except at the Dry Dock.
We noticed that it seemed to literally be the only place open in the few blocks that we walked around. I was looking for something with a water view, but I was desperate for some caffiene and, with nothing else open, these guys had us as their captive audience.
The good news is, it all turned out good. Really good. The staff were friendly and accommodating. We asked for a high chair and they just about fell over themselves with happiness to provide it (we later learned that they had just bought one for the cafe and we were the lucky first users of it).
Breakfast was yummy and there was plenty of the standard NZ type breakfast options available, in addition to the goodies in the bakery cabinet. My husband had some yummy French toast with bananas and bacon. I had the mueli, which to be fair was a little different than I expected, but still good. It had a lot of fresh fruit on it (apples, bananas, etc.) which was all fine and dandy, but not as much meusli itself.
So, if you find yourself in Tauranga with a need for breakfast and/or coffee (at an hour, really) swing on by and I don't think you'll be disappointed. read more