Tauranga Filipino Society vice-president Lolita Libeau says the Filipino community is hurting after learning some of their own were killed and seriously injured in a train crash at Pongakawa. Photo / Andrew Warner
Tauranga Filipino Society vice-president Lolita Libeau says the Filipino community is hurting after learning some of their own were killed and seriously injured in a train crash at Pongakawa. Photo / Andrew Warner
The Bay of Plenty Times is taking a look back at the stories of 2019. Here's what made headlines in June.
June 1:
Hannah Hobbs sold her five-bedroom home and gave up her government job to live in a tiny house with her daughters and dog on a tree-laden 7000sqm section in Tauranga.
The 38-year-old resource teacher and single mum to Grace, 14 and Bella, 17, was seeking an escape from the stresses of having so much stuff and working all the time.
Hannah Hobbs lives in a tiny house with her two kids on a 7000 sqm piece of land. Photo / Andrew Warner
June 4:
Tauranga City Council said it would finish the half-done Durham St upgrade in spite of a $3.3 million budget blowout elected officials labelled "disgraceful" and "another botch-up".
The project included streetscaping 300m of Durham St, plus Durham Lane, to make it more pedestrian-friendly and renewing and upgrading underground services including sewer pipes.
The Woest family, mum Rhiannon, dad Gustav, and their children, Yuna, 12, and Kvan, 9, say it's tough for families to find rental properties. Photo / Andrew Warner
June 19:
Craig McBride will be remembered as a great cricketer and respected leader by his former Tauranga classmates.
Former head prefect at Tauranga Boys' College, Craig McBride was a keen cricketer. Photo / File
June 21:
The Filipino community was reeling following the tragic death of two men after a crash in Pongakawa involving a car and a freight train.
Three men survived but were seriously hurt. A Filipino community leader shared her thoughts about the impact of the crash and how the local community could assist the victims and their grieving families.
Tauranga Filipino Society vice-president Lolita Libeau says the Filipino community is hurting after learning some of their own were killed and seriously injured in a train crash at Pongakawa. Photo / Andrew Warner
June 27:
There were guilty pleas at the eleventh hour ahead of the trial of Operation Heracles in which 46kg of cocaine was retrieved from a ship's hull by a dive team 'fishing' in Tauranga's harbour at midnight.
Cocaine bust. The Maersk Antares docked in Tauranga. Photo / Andrew Warner
June 29:
"It was like a bomb went off, it was so loud. It shook our whole house."
Those were the words of a Kaimai Range resident who heard an "explosion" in his usually quiet rural neighbourhood - two days before an announcement that a large methamphetamine laboratory had been found nearby.
