Talking Politics With Sam Uffindell Tauranga City MP

I enjoyed a fantastic recess week getting around Tauranga and meeting many members of our community.

Firstly, we had three days at the Tauranga Home Show. The engagement was fantastic, and it was so good to meet so many of you there. Following the hugely attended Home Show, there was Tauranga Croquet Club's 100^th anniversary.

The Otumoetai Social Supermarket opening is a great community achievement to help ease cost of living pressures. I had an exciting tour of St John Ambulance and a visit of Pelco NZ; a privately owned and operated Māori family pelagic fishing company employing over 100 people.

The Port of Tauranga Rescue Centre opening at Omanu was fantastic and is another great step forward for our local community. But perhaps the week's highlight was the senior academic prizegiving for Tauranga Boys' and Tauranga Girls' colleges; it was amazing to see the maturity, passion and intelligence of these young people and tomorrow's future stars. I'm sure they'll do incredibly well.

On the weekend I took my family to Pasifika in the Bay, an energising community event and the kids absolutely loved it. Sunday morning was the Tauranga City to Surf. This was a great run, and the legs are still sore. The Polish community celebrated 150 years of immigration to NZ, and I was honoured to be invited as a guest. I also had a wonderful Sunday evening with my daughter at Annakut Mahotsav, celebrating the Yogi Divine Society here in Tauranga.

I'm now back in Wellington but missing Tauranga already.