Mount Maunganui

Mount Maunganui or the Mount, as it is known, is the first place l lived and l guess my first love geographically speaking. This is a picture of the harbour - we lived at number 5 Marine Parade and l would open my bedroom window every morning to look straight out on the big waves of the Pacific ocean. The beautiful old house we lived in with the verandah all the way round has now been knocked down and some horrific modern tower blocks of flats built there for tourists. Hey New Zealand, where are your town planning laws? And where are your European architectural history groups that are allowing all these graceful old buildings to be knocked down?
The Mount itself is an extinct volcano and we used to have great fun sliding down the slopes on old tin trays as well as floating miles out beyond the waves in old inner tyre tubes with only head and feet showing.