Opinion: There is more to Tauranga than just 'Jafugees'

Have a laugh at the Facebook post but don't forget what makes Tauranga great. Photo / File

Tauranga now has the dubious distinction of being listed as one of the "S**t Towns of New Zealand", according to a Facebook page of that name.

The posts on the page have been creating waves around the country as each town or city gets its moment in the limelight.

The anonymous creator of the page yesterday described Tauranga as "basically a s**t version of Auckland", saying the city has "almost as many housing crises, traffic woes and Aucklanders as Auckland".

According to the page, Tauranga residents are either former Aucklanders ("Jafugees"), expensive smoothie drinkers in activewear, British people, old people or old British people.

The responses to the post generally fitted into one of two camps: laughing agreement or angry defensiveness.

I fell into the former camp and had a good laugh at the description, which is certainly how Tauranga appears on the surface (especially the part that says our harbour "smells like fresh diarrhoea" - a disgusting but apt account of sea lettuce season).

But for those of us who actually live here, we know there is much more to the city.

Our gorgeous beaches for one. The TripAdvisor 2017 Travellers' Choice Awards named Mount Maunganui as New Zealand's best beach for the fourth time in a row, and as one of the top five beaches in the South Pacific.

Our amazing communities for another. Look at the Bay of Plenty Times Christmas Appeal for one example of many - it raised about $130,000 last year for the hungry people in the city and, in the two weeks of the appeal so far this year, we're almost at $16,000.

Tauranga is a fantastic place to live, work and play.

Sure, it has its downsides, like any city.

But really, how bad can the place really be if this is the worst they could come up with?