Welcome again to wet Wellington, lol. We have had our sunny day, very wet and cold here in Wellington. Mum wasn’t doing a tour here, so after breakfast I left Mum warmly ensconced in our room and braved the elements.

The tour started at the base of Cable Car Alley in the city, and we climber 120 metres in 5 minutes, with a couple of station stops on the way. It also had light shows in the tunnels. At the top were the botanic gardens, a cable car museum (not open for another 30 minutes), a café and lots of rain. The driver/tour guide had said not to go into the gardens, don’t know why, so we had a 50-minute wait for the tour to continue. I managed to find a few munzees to kill the time. You can tell how wet it is around here by the amount of lichen growing on the trees, lol.

From there we had only had a few minutes on the bus to the Zealandia Wildlife Sanctuary. It was raining last time I was here too!!!

ZEALANDIA is the world’s first fully-fenced urban ecosanctuary, with an extraordinary 500-year vision to restore a Wellington valley’s forest and freshwater ecosystems as closely as possible to their pre-human state. The 225 hectare ecosanctuary is a ground-breaking conservation project that has reintroduced 18 species of native wildlife back into the area, 6 of which were previously absent from mainland New Zealand for over 100 years. 

Anyway, this time I did the guided hour-long walk through the rain, mud and puddles, but it was good fun. Lots of birds to listen to, several visible ones and a good guide talking about them, the plants and the history of the place. It had been a reservoir, and the water is still there, but a 5.5-mile feral animal/predator proof fence has been constructed around it allowing the birds, reptiles and insects to live protected. NZ does not have any native mammals except 3 species of bats, so it’s their bird life that is important. Several rare species are surviving well at Zealandia. We saw several tui, kaka (parrot) and pateke a rare duck. He was funny, a mallard came along looking for food and the much smaller pateke chased him off several times.

All the land surrounding the reservoir had been cleared for grazing, but it has now grown back to a lovely forested area and will be even better when the high canopy trees are old enough to be high canopies!

After the tour (the rain stopped as we got back onto the bus) Mum and I had lunch and then we caught the shuttle back into Wellington which dropped us off outside the biggest wooden building in the southern hemisphere, very impressive, it takes up an entire block. I was meeting up with another munzee hunter, so we chatted whilst Mum played Pokemon.

We have another day cruising tomorrow on our way to Dunedin.

Well considering we dawdled around the coast, we were actually late docking, must have been someone in our way, lol. So all the tours were delayed and from having been brought forward half an hour yesterday our tour was an hour later than expected today.

We are docked at a working port, with tons of radiata pine logs waiting to be shipped out. We watched the unloading of trucks during breakfast, very deft and quick, stacking the logs in long piles, everything running like clockwork. The trucks loaded with logs are constant, they just keep coming. It’s one of the busiest ports in NZ, not only timber, but lots of varieties of fruit and vegetables also exported through here.

In sunshine, we caught the Hawkesbury Bay Express, an on-the-road train and trundled around the streets of Napier. It had been levelled back in 1931 by a massive earthquake, so the new town was built in the art deco style by architects who were forward thinking and had some common sense. The driver/tour guide said it only took 2.5 days to put telecommunication fibre throughout the whole town as the infrastructure had been planned well back in the thirties. The size of the roads and awnings also played a large part in the designing. There had been a huge fishing bay before the earthquake, which vanished when the land was raised several metres and it’s now used for agriculture and horticulture.

We left the train in Napier and had a wander around the shops. There are lovely gardens all along the shore. It’s a lovely little town, 57,000 inhabitants, lots of trees and hills!

After a late lunch we have been entertained on our balcony by the band down on the docks and a selection of vintage cars appeared for photo opportunities.

Wellington tomorrow.

Isn’t it sad when there’s all that amazing food on offer and all we felt like last night was a bit of fruit for dinner! Anyway, another day at sea today, and it was a really slow one. Napier isn’t very far around the coast, so we are crawling along, I had thought when I woke up that we were stationary, but not quite, lol.

There was an event tonight especially for the members of the Crown & Anchor Society (the Royal Caribbean loyalty club). The entertainment director showed us how they set up the ‘largest screen at sea’, 125 ft long x 25 ft high and curved so that it displays fantastic images. Along with the robot arms & screens we saw the first night, we watched a ‘visage’ of Da Vinci’s flying machine flying over the Acropolis and the Colosseum. Beautiful images indeed. There was then a presentation to the top cruiser on board (1000+ nights cruising). Finally, the giant screen had an ocean symphony with lots of musical sea creatures, good fun.

Then we had a late dinner, and as I had left my phone behind charging up, there was a lovely sunset!! Looks like tomorrow may actually be sunny, fingers crossed!!

Couple of photos of us leaving Tauranga, we spent ages watching the pilot boat until it retrieved him!

Started the morning off watching the Radiance of the Seas (with tugs) manoeuvre itself between us and the front of the wharf. Didn’t look like there was much room and I bet everyone on the bridge was watching closely LOL. Very clever and competent.

It was rather a miserable morning. Our tour meeting point was on the wharf at 10.15, in the rain and puddles, until we got on the coach. We had been going to a lookout for a scenic view but that was scrapped as the clouds were way to low to see the lookout let alone look out from it. So we were going to see a waterfall which the driver/tour guide said would be spectacular with all this rain. Then the traffic came to a grinding halt, someone had obviously had an accident, so the bus did a u-turn (it wasn’t a very wide road for that) and we didn’t get to the waterfall. However, he did take us for a lovely countryside tour, very hilly, very picturesque as the rain had actually stopped and there was a smattering of blue skies and sunshine. We did stop at a lookout just out of Te Puna and did get out of the coach, but by then time was against us and we headed back to the ship.

Watched laden container ships leave the harbour and Radiance depart, so it must be just about time for us to leave as well. Day at sea tomorrow.

Big day today. After breakfast we made our way down to the Royal Theatre, were given our bus ticket number and then waited for our tour number to be called. Down a couple of flights of stairs, through the check-out and on to the tender. Amazingly enough we were the first off the tender and the first on the bus. Our tour was diverted from its usual roads because the centre of Auckland had been closed off for the Santa Parade. Lots of NZ Christmas trees just starting to bloom, and lots of them were really big, lichen covered trees. Our first stop was a huge rose garden, lovely odour wafting around and a wide range of colour. Then onto the Winter Garden, not only ponds, fountains and gardens but a hissing gander protecting his goslings! Some rosellas eating grass seeds, lots of sparrows and a pair of blackbirds foraging beneath the palms. Mum pokemoned her way away the walk back to the bus, lol. From there we had a drive over the big Auckland Bridge, back again and then under it. Had a look at the area that’s being redeveloped for the America’s Cup in 2021, and then back to the ship.

After a spot of lunch and settling Mum back in our room, I caught a tender again over to the port and met up with a local Munzee hunter, and then back to Mum and a bit of relaxing & writing before dinner.

Well the decision to take the tender or not was decided by the ocean and the Captain. There was too big a swell, which made the tendering process unsafe, so the ship left the Bay and headed out into the Southern Pacific Ocean for the day. BTW, The Bay of Islands is actually a submerged valley and the islands (around 144 of them) are all that remain of the mountain tops.

So once again another lazy day, doing nothing much.

Just as well we did pop up to dinner last night, they had roast duck, which Mum thoroughly enjoyed. We had a game of Tantrix when back on our balcony which was fun, Mum won it.

We have a coach trip tomorrow in Auckland, so hoping the weather improves enough so we can see something, so far all we’ve seen of NZ was hidden under low cloud or fog. Lol.

We did manage to find the back of the ship after dinner, just kept walking to the back of the Windjammer.

And if it’s possible to do even less than the day before, this was it, lol. Apparently, we had a rough night, I did notice it once in the middle of the night, but Mum didn’t feel it and was fine this morning, so maybe she has her sea legs now! Another hour added to the clocks, so 5 hours ahead.

A very grey, blustery day. Not sure if it’s low cloud, fog, rain or sea mist out there lol. Sometimes even the horizon was blotted out and just a mass of grey! Lots of white caps on the waves and spray off them with the wind, but it has calmed down a lot now, not much white at all.

We have delayed going to dinner as neither of us is really hungry, but we will pop up there shortly to have a look at the spread.

First stop tomorrow, Bay of Islands, but as it’s a 20 minute tender, Mum would rather not do it, I’m still thinking about it.

A day of cruising so a day of doing nothing much, we put our clocks forward an hour so now 4 hours ahead of home time. Mum didn’t feel too good this morning, so after a quick visit to the Windjammer for breakfast (dry toast for Mum) we came back to our room where Mum had a good sleep and awoke feeling much better.

The clouds have become more white and largish blue patches are making the water blue as well, it’s all been rather grey until now. Sat around for a while amusing ourselves then time for a much more substantial lunch for Mum. Before dinner we had a wander around the 2 shopping decks and visited the Solarium at the front of the ship, way too hot and chlorine smelling for both of us. The ship is still rocking a little and it was quite noticeable up the front!! We have a meal time system now, I walk around the food stations with Mum and compile a plate of her choices, set her up at a table and then go and get mine. Mum however finds the dessert station herself, lol.

A few pictures, see if you can spot Mum with the cookie she collected on the way out! We had our first towel critter tonight!

Woke up early, still dark outside except for the flashes of lightning. As I couldn’t hear any thunder thought the room nicely sound proofed. Well as time went on the thunder got close enough to hear lol. Once the day greyed up to visibility we could see the low clouds obscuring the tops of the buildings across the way and the rain was just coming down!

We stayed in our room killing time until about 10.45 when we grabbed a taxi and headed for Circular Quay and the big ship awaiting us. Took around 15 minutes and rained all the way. Left our suitcases at the baggage drop all nicely labelled and even though our official check-in time was 13.00 we went though without a hitch. Short wait for the security scanning as usual, but shortly we found ourselves in Two70⁰ having lunch. The rain had stopped by the time we finished so we went up to the 15^th deck and had a walk around the running track and enjoyed the views of Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Opera House and the old buildings in The Rocks precinct.

Our room was available at 13.00 so we found it and sat on the balcony looking at the old buildings again with some internet surfing to discover their history.

Mandatory safety drill was at 17.00 so we wandered down to our muster point at 16.50 so we would be ready and also get a seat. That done and quick visit back to our room to see if our luggage had appeared yet (no it hadn’t), we ascended from deck 13 to 14 and dinner in the Windjammer. Back to our room and no luggage, so down to security (deck 2) but they didn’t have it, so being delivered they said. We then watched the ship move away from the wharf and then turn, so discovered we are near the end of the ship, not the front as we had thought, LOL.

Down to Two70⁰ again, but this time it had been transformed into a theatre complete with moving floors, holes in ceiling for trapezes and vanishing holes for performers. It started as an image show on 7 big screens manipulated by robotic arms, and were alight for lots of the singing/dancing that ensued. They must have changed costumes about 10 times!!! We also began to notice that the ship had left the harbour as a slight rocking had started.

Back at the stateroom, still no luggage, so went down to Guest Services where there were lots of bags, including ours that had lost our labels with the room numbers on them.

Mum’s asleep and I’m not going to be far behind her, might have to hang something on the hangers in the wardrobe though, they are banging together, LOL.

Helen picked me up just after 9 and then on to Mum’s. Arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare which was just as well as the baggage drop conveyor wasn’t working so we had to wait for a long time to get our luggage off our hands. Boarded the flight on time and obviously had a tail wind as it only took 3.45 hours to get to Sydney.

I gave the greeter at the plane door my BOAC Junior Jetclub logbook for filling in during the flight. He found us half way through the flight to say the Captain would like to say hello at the end of the flight, so could we get off at the end. No probs as we were near the rear of the plane anyway, lol. Popped into the cockpit for a quick chat with the 2 pilots and Mum had a quick seat in the Captain’s chair, she was really happy with that experience!

Then we retrieved our cases and waited ages for a taxi, the system was quite bizarre, but finally we got a ride to our hotel in Darling Harbour. The lass upgraded us so we have a view overlooking the Harbour and all it’s lights. I tried taking a photo but it didn’t work well. (Remember it’s 3 hours later here than at home and it was getting dark especially as storms are expected.

We had a stroll through the Harbourside Mall, and then out onto the walk way around the harbour. Back inside for a bit of dinner. The gulls aren’t perturbed about it being an enclosed building, they have worked out the automatic doors and come and go as they like, lol.

Hoping it’s not too wet etc tomorrow, no fun getting ones self and luggage wet!