Tauranga
Cafe on Field with attached aviation Museum.
A controlled airport that enjoys good weather and pleasant coastal scenery.
Tauranga is a good place for a fly-in visit as it has a good cafe on the airfield in the Classic Flyers museum. The cafe has nice modern surroundings with an aviation theme.
The food has a good selection (Not a lot of vegetarian choice) and often has soy milk (Not available when we visited). The coffee is quite passable and the food pleasant.
| Best time of year to go | Anytime just avoid moist North East conditions unles you are IFR. |
| Food at Airport | Yes. The museum cafe. Just ask the tower for directions. |
| Fuel Available | Yes. 100LL Shell and BP. & JetA1 |
| Landing fees | Apparently payable at the club but the club is VERY unfriendly and unhelpful so I would recommend waiting for the bill in the mail. |
| Comments about arriving and departing | Very friendly controllers. Just make sure you brief yourself on the VFR arrivals before you get there. They tend to use the grass for light aircraft unless you ask for the seal. |
| Things to do near the airport |
Eat and visit the aviation museum. Often some interesting planes to watch too. In town and at "The Mount" lots of shopping etc and more great eating ! |
When the eating is done. $10 will get you a look around the museum. Not a huge museum but worth a visit since its not too "Airforcey' and has a some interesting Kiwinana aviation. Worth supporting.
Plenty of parking nearby the museum cafe (In the background by the palm tree). 15th Aug 2005
Sorry the shot is a bit blurry but you can see the pleasant modern surroundings.
If you'd like to visit town for some shopping or eating then about $20 should get you in to town in a taxi. Along the strand there is plenty of eateries to choose from.
Parking is supposedly in front of the aeroclub but be warned. From our experience they're in the running for the most unfriendly aeroclub in the country. They apparently collect landing fees but nobody helped us with that so I guess I'll get the bill in the mail.
If you are staying the night and want something very comfortable and close to town both the Sebel (a very nice restaurant here too) and the Hotel on Devonport offer very nice accomodation.
If its a last minute thing then wotif offer great rates as usual.
For breakfast, check out 'The Med' Cafe half way up Devonport Road not far from Hotel on Devonport.
Now for something really special in the coffee department.
We stumbled on Fixation coffee at 10 Dive Street. Its along the waterfront from the Sebel but just before the main bunch of Cafés. It doesn't look like much other than an ex car yard but this place made us the best coffees we'd ever had. We kept going back and it was consistently terrific coffee.
If you are nearby, definitly check them out.
