Going Home

 

This morning we spent a few hours in the room relaxing. 

At 1020 we went to the lobby to wait for the SuperShuttle van which we had booked last night. It turns out we had a cab pick us up (a Kuwaiti born; Indian raised man who eventually earned an Australian MBA was our driver). 

Auckland airport was extremely efficient with passport control just machines and security which was the latest and greatest with machines that all we had to do was put “all” our stuff (wallet, keys, and CPAP machine etc) into our backpack and having that go through for the check. So fast. 

We ate a meal in the airport which turned out to be a mistake as Air Canada fed us almost immediately. 

We left on time at 1407 hours

The flight was 12 hours long and we arrived 40 ish minutes early. We actually had to wait in line for Canada Customs to open at 0600. Easy peasy getting back into the country and no extra security check like we have had to in the past.

The Edmonton flight left on time and I slept most of the way (Caro only a bit). 

Vanessa,Beckett and Nora May picked us up. “Thank you”

Grinding the Pedestals

 Hi-light day in Auckland

We slept great last night and this morning we ate some of the food we had left over from last night. 

We walked to the ocean front as I wanted to see the 11AM America’s Cup tour leave. We spotted a fellow that had been on our Rotorua day trip and he gave a great suggestion for an activity in the afternoon so we changed our 2PM tour to 11AM and 10 minutes later we were getting instructions etc for our trip an an America’s Cup boat (2003 version).   

Everyone got a chance to do various activities relating to sailing the boat. The first job was called “grinding the pedestal”; a process where 8 of us rotated something similar to bicycle pedals ( two per pedestal)I was one of the first group and we raised the main sail. It was extremely tiring!!

A short while later the crew asked for  a volunteer to drive the boat.  I jumped in there immediately and so now I can say I have  piloted an America’s Cup boat!

Caro and I had further turns “grinding the pedestal throughout the approximately two hour trip. 

The opportunity came to help 

bring the spinnaker sail down and put into the forward hold. I helped there as well!

After our return and a lunch break we got ferry tickets to an island called Waikehe. We sat on the top floor and enjoyed the scenery. We also saw the boat tour that we were originally supposed to be on returning from their adventure. 

The ferry ride took about 40 minutes and upon arrival we walked a longish kilometre along a sidewalk uphill towards a town.  The walk was very scenic with wonderful vegetation/trees and birds chirping. 

We didn’t have all that much to spend on the island. We were thirsty so we grabbed local pops for something to drink and walked around the streets of the beautiful little town called Oneroa. Before walking back down to the ferry dock we had a wonderful ice cream. Yummy!

The trip back under today’s blue skies was just as wonderful as the trip out. We were back essentially 3 hours after we left. 

The America’s Cup boat out on the 2 PM tour (that we were originally booked on.

We walked back to the hotel, dropped off our recent purchases etc and went to the pub we had visited last night. This time we were much wiser in our food choice!

Auckland

Our final supper on the ship was at the buffet and afterwards we packed. Caro wanted to see the main show but I didn’t, so she went by herself. 

We both actually had a good nights sleep and were at our final breakfast about 0700. 

We left our room shortly after 0800 and within a maximum of 20 minutes we were cleared through customs into New Zealand ( we had filled in the customs form using the app).  

We walked to the hotel (uphill quite a bit-puff puff) and left our bags in storage until we officially checked in later in the day. 

We had heard that the Auckland War museum was great so we walked a couple of kilometres over to it. We weren’t there for the war info but instead for all the Māori and South Pacific items. 

A huge bonus for us was the natural history section which had replicas of some of the extinct (or still with us ) animals from the area. 

It also had a section that was about volcanos.  In this area was a house set up to experience a realistic volcano eruption as if you were inside the house. So interesting. 

After that we walked back downtown in time for our 1400 hrs walking tour.  The fellow was very experienced but honestly , too much Māori creation

With the tour over we spent a little time shopping before walking back to the hotel and checking in. 

We really over ordered our supper

24,000 steps and almost 15 kilometres; time to take a break in the room!

Rotorua

 Last full day on board 

Once we were back on board we played three games of rummy under cover at the pool side. 

After that we were at the hot tub where we had a good time chatting with other people. 

A short nap later and we headed out for supper in the main dining room. We both had steak tonight. It was very good.

Two more games of rummy followed by a fantastic stage show finished our night. 

In the morning we walked around Tauranga for an hour enjoying the beaches and townsite. One of the beaches we saw ( Maunganui ) is rated in the top 25 beaches in the world. 

We picked up our 6 1/2 hour Rotorua tour at 1000 hours. We drove through beautiful countryside forests and valleys to a thermally active  old volcano lake (Rotorua).We saw lots of thermal vents, smelled the sulphur in the air and at one point we were able to dip our feet in a pool of hot water which felt very nice. 

We next went to a Moari village where  lunch was served, followed by a short drive to a Redwood forest to do the world’s longest living tree walk. At the beginning of the 1900’s the NZ government planted huge areas of various types of trees to see which type of tree was best for lumber ( it was not Redwoods and the decision was made to keep all these trees , and now there is a beautiful forest)

A final stop to get a close up of kiwi fruit on the vine orchard and then back to town. 

Napier

 

Yesterday we were in the Spinnaker Lounge to watch us leave port. The sun decided to show itself just as we progressed out of the harbour. We had beautiful hills and cliffs to look at for quite a while. 

As a bonus some dolphins swam alongside us for a short while. 

A great night of sleep for me but a terrible one for Caro. 

Last night we saw a show by the comedian who Carolina had seen a few days ago ( that I missed because I was sick).  I thought he was pretty good however Carolina said his first show was better. 

At breakfast this morning we were talking to a lady from Florida who was at the casino the other night when there was a medical emergency the night I was sick. She saw the whole incident happening and said the man died ( fell forward flat on his face).

A shuttle bus ride later and we were in Napier (Hawke’s Bay). This town was very badly damaged in a 1931 earthquake and was rebuilt in a popular style of the day, art deco. They have retained many of these buildings and now consider themselves the “art deco” capital of the world. They really make a point of retaining the art deco style and there are many beautifully restored cars of the period and the owners ( I assume) are dressed in period clothing which make for wonderful photos. 

We saw the film crew again and I imagine a lot of this town will make it into their show. 

Caro managed to find many exciting souvenir stores and she “may” have completed her purchases (time will tell LOL)

We both thought this was a lovely town and we really enjoyed walking around and before leaving we enjoyed a glass of local wine. 

Wellington

We were up about 0700 this morning. Breakfast was at the buffet where we chatted with a couple who travels extensively ( including a cruise up Western Africa coast ). 

We took the free shuttle into the city ( the only way to get in and put of the port itself) and were dropped off in central Wellington. 

From there we walked the waterfront right around to the far side before starting back towards city centre. 

We made our way to Cuba street which is a “pedestrian only” series of blocks of stores etc. I imagine in the night it is a busy area. 

We walked to the tram and took it up the large hill for a nice view of the city. We took the opportunity to have a sit down relaxing break for banana bread and coffee/hot chocolate. 

The walk back down into the city centre was wonderful. We went through a spectacular botanic garden. Just beautiful!

Close to the end of the park was a large rose and begonias section, so while Caro spent all the time she wanted checking the flowers, I got some free wi-fi and downloaded a dozen podcasts. 

The final bit of the walk went through an old, now closed, cemetery. Really interesting to read some of the headstones. 

We finished at the Parliament buildings including the building called “ the beehive”.

We were on the shuttle heading back just before 1400hrs. 

We both enjoyed Wellington more than Christchurch but as Caro said “ I wasn’t feeling that well yesterday” so maybe that influenced our thoughts. 

Lyttleton/Christchurch

Last night I was again, not feeling very chipper (but mostly just tired) so I went to bed at 8:30 PM and Caro enjoyed the 9 PM show ( a comedian). 

This morning Carolina felt ill so we did nothing for a few hours, then decided to risk a trip into Christchurch ( which is really quite close). We got the cruise ship provided shuttle out of the port into Lyttleton and at that point decided to take the city bus right into Christchurch (only $C8.10 for an all day pass).

Once in Christchurch and off the bus we walked around a bit and decided to get a hop on hop off ticket on the city  tourist tram (only about $C32). The conductor was quite informative and I think the complete route took less than 45 minutes ( a total of 5 Km of track). We realized after that ride that there was really nothing more we wanted to see or do so we headed back to the cruise ship.

Really I think Christchurch was so badly damaged by the earthquakes a dozen years ago it lost a lot of its “old country charm”. While some old buildings have been,or are being restored, the new style buildings just don’t have the charm. We couldn’t have been more than two hours in the centre area. 

Once back at the port we walked around Lyttleton for a bit and were back on the ship by 1:30 PM. Caro feeling a bit poorly so had a break in the room. 

Dunedin

I woke up this morning feeling back to normal and so when we came into Port Chalmers we got transfer tickets to go to Dunedin. 

What a nice place! The weather at the start of the day was lousy but not long afterwards it was sunny.

Dunedin has a great history and is a beautiful city with many old buildings preserved. We wandered around popping into a couple of different churches. 

Next we walked down to the historic railway station 

and from  there we walked to the exceptional Otago People’s Museum. A must see I think. A really well done museum that had really great things to see. I had no idea of the European immigration here. 

Caro pointed out a wedding dress that is in the antique section. It’s from a wedding in 1983 ( our wedding year). I guess we are antiques now LOL

After some liquid refreshments and banana bread we continued walking around.

More souvenir shopping for Caro while I wrote this up. 

 A wonderful day ( and it really is nice to feel healthy again)

Milford Sound

After that terrible night it was great to turn on the TV to the “Bow Cam” and see up getting close to the fjords. 

The fjord was gorgeous and worth the UNESCO world site status. 

While out watching the scenery we chatted with the film crew from BBC 5 and found out how and when we can watch the show they are making on this cruise. They appeared to do filming of many of us watching the scenery so perhaps we will be on the show ( although if we are there in the completed show I imagine it will be a quick edit cut).

Once we started turning around at the end of the Sound I went back to the room as I wasn’t feeling very good again. 

According to an announcement we heard this morning the ship is experiencing cases of acute gastrointestinal issues ( yup I know the feeling!). We noticed last night that the crew had changed procedures for eating so we wondered if something was wrong. 

This morning after returning to my room I threw up again. Yuck! On both of our last cruises either me or both of us were ill. Hmmm, something to think about!

When we arrived at the second fjord I was only able to get myself up to deck 12, snap a couple of photos and back to bed

About 3:20 Caro came to the room and said it was really beautiful scenery so I got up and went to the front and watched for the last hour as we left Dusky Sound and headed back out to sea. 

Caro found out later that there were 29 instances like mine that people called the doctor for last night and that is what triggered the outbreak protocols. 

Also we heard a “code Alpha deck 7“ about 1030 last night.  That turned to be a fellow lost a large amount of money playing on the casino and started having heart issues. 

Day 2 at sea

Day 2 at sea

The show last night was the ventriloquist again and we enjoyed his performance. 

Another great night of sleep and for the second night in a row we advanced our clocks one hour so now we are on Auckland time. 

Today we decided to eat at the buffets. 

Pizza for me for lunch and spaghetti for supper. Caro had various foods (all of which she enjoyed). 

We each did are own exercises today and after lunch we played a few games of tile rummy up on the pool deck ( but sheltered from the Sun and wind).

Spent more time in the hot tub, with me wearing a T-shirt to protect my already sunburned skin. We met a young couple there in the tub. They are from the Philippines and he is a professional musician playing 60-80’s music. After they left a young lady from Florida came in followed by a middle aged lady from Ireland. Everyone very interesting ( which is almost the case every time).

I started feeling quite sick later in the evening so Caro went to the show and I stayed back in the room. As the evening progressed I got violently ill. It would have been much better in this situation if we didn’t have a handicapped room as the sink was too far from the toilet so suffice to say I had a big wreck! Enough said in that department!! A long night!!

At Sea to NZ

Day 1

Last night we left Australia (Hobart). We watched from the Spinnaker Lounge (deck 11) as we detached from the pier and started out through the bay

After another great meal in “our” restaurant we eventually made it to the Stardust theatre for the 9 PM show. 

The singer was the same lady who did the Helen Reddy show a few nights back. This time she did a show that was a story of her life. It was a phenomenal show. This lady can really sing!  Her name is Nikki Bennet. We do not have cell service until New Zealand so I will  have to wait until then to read up on her. 

The day was a quiet one with both of us doing some exercise (Caro in the gym and me, walking) .

We spent quite a bit of time in the hot tub (met an American who lived in Edmonton and Vancouver for a while).

We picked a table in a public area near the swimming pool where we were able to play a few games of tile rummy. 

After a couple hours of quiet time we went to supper around 6:30 PM. Most times our suppers are really good but today our choices were not great. My Hungarian goulash was too dry and Caro’s chicken with pineapples and coconut rice was bland too. Too bad.