Bay of Plenty

Rachelle Duffy (founder of The Little Big Events) is one of those people doing incredible things for our community and our region. Weekend markets, annual festivals and even monthly magazine is what brings Tauranga to life. I first had a pleasure to talk to her about a year ago, while interviewing Rachelle for focus magazine. Though she just gave Birth to her second baby and was certainly extremely busy being a mum of a newborn, she found time for a long and very interesting phone talk. A year later, and we finally meet in person at the opening day of Our Place, new container village in Tauranga CBD, bringing old market favs and some new brands to the Downtown.

Rotorua reminds me of Hermione Granger’s beaded handbag: small from the outside, it was bottomless inside, so she could pack all the supplies she might need one day in it (those included Perkins’ tent, that easily accommodated seven Weasleys and Harry Potter – not sure I really need this detail here, but it’s Harry Potter, you know). Anyway, the population of Rotorua is only 71,700 people. Might look like a sleepy little place. But the truth can’t lie any further from that. You can never have enough time to explore all the activities and entertainments Rotorua has to offer! And I know what I’m talking about – we live in Tauranga. With Rotorua being located only an hour away, it has been our go-to choice for a cool weekend getaway for the last two years.

I always felt that Karangahake Gorge is sort of an underestimated New Zealand walkway. Yes, it has made it into 101 Must Do’s for Kiwi’s. Yes, everyone have heard of it. But who has really been there? Photos of the stunning Karangahake Gorge views we’ve posted on Instagram were mostly met with one question: ‘Where is it?’ I think, it’s time to answer it!