Daxton gets a cuddle from his mum Eden Anderton. Photo / George Novak
The Bay of Plenty Times is looking back at the stories of 2020. This is what made headlines in September.
The work of a Pāpāmoa photographer went global after she participated in a fundraiser during lockdown earlier this year.
The Front Steps Project, which started in America, saw photographers all over the world head out during lockdown to get photos of families outside their front doors, raising $3.2 million globally for charities.
Two Tauranga city councillors said the entire council should be replaced.
The comments came as Tauranga City Council unanimously approved a $350,000 budget for a review and observer team to monitor elected members' interactions, following months of clashes and tension.
Stained and mouldy mattresses, no insulation, a leaky roof, and no working toilet for four days were some of the conditions tourist workers claimed they endured in a kiwifruit orchard woolshed turned into an accommodation building.
The former workers on working visas believed the accommodation facilities near Te Puke were substandard, with one describing it as a "scam" and a "health hazard" — and the Western Bay of Plenty District Council investigated the matter.
Māori leaders in Tauranga praised Labour's promise to make Matariki a public holiday if re-elected as a sign of changing attitudes towards Māori culture.
But there were concerns about the impact another public holiday would have on businesses, with one opposition MP saying the timing of the move was "hopeless".
Tauranga commercial landlord Bob Clarkson offloaded his extensive portfolio for $200 million in one of the biggest industrial and rural property transactions seen in the Bay of Plenty.
Low-profile investor and syndicator, Queenstown-based Mackersy Property, bought 24 industrial buildings, all built by Clarkson and his construction team, in two deals worth $150m.
Three years ago, Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology did not offer te reo courses at its Tauranga campus.
Now, it has the biggest growth number of enrolments.
Heddell Raerino, the institute's associate dean - Te Kura Māori, student engagement, study and career progression, said across their campuses in Tauranga, Rotorua, Taupō, Tokoroa and Whakatāne, 1043 students were enrolled in te reo-based courses - 261 were studying at the Tauranga campus.
A reminder of the 2011 Rena maritime disaster popped up on Trade Me.
An original lifeboat from the stricken Rena cargo ship which grounded on the Astrolabe Reef off the coast of Tauranga in 2011 was listed in September.
Tauranga was benefiting from a ''retirement village construction bonanza'' which would result in thousands of jobs and hundreds of new homes, a sector expert said.
Data from industry valuers Jones Lang LaSalle provided to the Bay of Plenty Times by the Retirement Villages Association showed 1700 units including villas, apartments and serviced apartments are at some stage of the design, consent or construction process.
Heart issues, anxiety, depression, self-harm and suicide have all been linked to loneliness, and Tauranga's loneliest by a landslide are young people.
The findings came from the Tauranga City Council's Whakahou Taketake Vital Update report which found people aged 16 to 24 years old are Tauranga's loneliest people, with 22 per cent feeling lonely either all the time or often.
After five years in the making, New Zealand's first supermarket eatery is up and running and it's based in Tauranga.
New World Brookfield opened its much-anticipated eatery featuring three food outlets, and so far, customers love it, owner Brendan Good said.
Leaders of a Tauranga hapū at the centre of a $14 million cycleway controversy were looking forward to finding a cycleway solution that worked for all parties involved.
Ngāti Kahu representatives Des Kohotea, Mokohiti Brown, Ronda Tokona and Mark Nogaj said they were part of a mandated group elected by the hapū to represent it on matters relating to the Ōmokoroa to Tauranga Cycleway.
Baby Daxton was not expected to live. His parents were told he could die before being born. They braced themselves for the worst.
But Daxton is a battler. Four brain operations later, the 13-week-old continued to defy the odds.
The weather is heating up on the east coast as summer approaches.