Auckland, New Zealand

1/2/11-1/3/11

We were sad to be leaving the cruise ship the next day, but we still managed to have a really fun last night on the ship, partially thanks to winning the newlywed game and a trivia contest during the cruise.  We had won 4 prize tokens from these contests, and we could have traded these in for 4 hats or 2 bottles of champagne.  It was a tough choice, but fortunately we did not choose the hats.  We planned on leaving one of the bottles for Joe and Kathryn, but dinner ran long....  

In Auckland, we disembarked. Some of us were forcefully removed from the ship, and some of us were petty and stole rolls. After they dragged Beth from the ship, and the adorable agriculture sniffing dog found the rolls in the shorts, we met up with Joe Crail and Kathryn, who just happened to be taking the same cruise in reverse.

                            

We rode the hop on hop off (hyphenating nightmare) bus around town, seeing some of Auckland’s Highlights. Auckland Highlights: small mountains with lookouts for scenic photos, medium mountains with look outs. We stopped at one, Mt. Eden, that had a giant crater- Auckland is built on 48 volcanoes, which is slightly stupider than building a large city in the desert on top of earthquake faults, or building a football stadium directly over an active fault. 



View from Mt. Eden

Had lunch at Burgel Fuel, a chain restaurant that is vegetarian friendly. Their menu specifies that they are "Vegetarian Society Approved" and that they cook their "vege" stuff separately. Nice! Then, took the ferry to Devonport to walk around some more and hike up a mountain (Mt. Victoria) there. They had a retracting gun they built in anticipation of invasion by Russia and/or Fiji. More views. There were some really nice 360 degree views including of the Auckland skyline from the top. Beth is obsessed with taking pictures of views to the point of making me want to lose another camera on this trip. Keep an eye out for our next blog: 600 photos of Beth and Rich standing on a non-descript mountain smiling. Devonport also has some nice beaches, so we relaxed on one for awhile after our walk back down the mountain. 


Richard with Retracting Gun

 

Auckland City Skyline in Background

                                             


from the top of Mt. Victoria

We wandered around the shopping district of Auckland along Queen Street and surrounding areas, and the wharf and pier area. Apparently it was a holiday since New Years was on a weekend, they just take the whole week off. This means that restaurants charge a 10-15% surcharge for holidays. We stayed at the Jucy Hotel, which was one of the cooler hotels we have stayed at. Nice views, huge room with high ceilings and an atrocious purple/green paint scheme. After that we had a nice dinner at a Japanese restaurant on the wharf with Spencer and Dina and then off to bed.

I am happy to report that we never once changed currency in New Zealand in 5 days. We found NZ about 20-30% less expensive than Australia for food and tours.

Right now we are sitting in what may be the world’s ugliest airport - Honolulu International, where the power outlets don’t work, and the décor is a mix Soviet Concrete Block and Brady Bunch 1970s. They do have free internet, though, so that’s a plus.

One of the toughest challenges we’ll have is adjusting downwards from our 5,000 calories a day cruise diet. We’re thinking we might have to slowly wean ourselves down.

Hope you have enjoyed traveling Australia and New Zealand with us.  Stay tuned.... where will we go next??

Tauranga, New Zealand

12/31/10-1/2/11

We were in the 2^nd time zone in the world to celebrate New Years, 21 hours ahead of everyone back home in So Cal. We had New Years on the ship. It was a formal night (Richard’s favorite!) (Editor’s note, not Richard’s favorite). They had several parties going on in the bars and clubs – but the central atrium was the place to be at midnight. We secured a prime spot early, complete with our bottle of champagne (courtesy of Princess, for our newlywed game winning), and band playing. At midnight, they released a ton of balloons and streamers from above, and the crowd went wild. It was a fun place to be.

Happy New Year!!!


  The day following was a sea day (probably much needed after the festivities from the night before) and the day after, we stopped in Tauranga, New Zealand. From there, we took a tour into Rotorua, where there is a ton of geothermal action (hot springs, geysers, etc).

We stopped first at a kiwi farm – a requisite stop apparently, it being New Zealand and all. Kiwi refers to the fruit, the people of New Zealand, and the soon to be extinct bird. We went underneath the growing kiwi vines. We tasted some kiwi, and some kiwi wine made entirely of kiwi fruit, no grapes.

                                     

 

We then drove through the winding hills to Rotorua, which is a town on a lake (which was formed from the spring water).

We stopped at Te Puia which is apparently Maori for “tour bus parking”. We saw a Maori cultural performance – Maori, by the way, are the native people of New Zealand. The Native Americans of New Zealand, to be politically correct.

                                                      The warriors stick their tongues out to appear fierce

We then went on to see some crazy geysers (interesting note: Aussies and Kiwis pronounce the word “geezers”. So if you want to see a bunch of actively exploding old people, this is the place). The geysers were unreal – they can spray up to 35m high, or higher. You can get up very close – in fact, the walkway next to it is covered in a steam and mist from the geyser. The entire geyser area is covered in a plume of steam. There are steam vents in the ground all around too. It’s really an amazing sight.

                                     

We also saw boiling mud pools, which look like something out of a movie. Hot gurgling bubbling mud pools.

We saw a couple of kiwi birds – they are nocturnal, so you have to go into a darkened area (simulating night) to view them in action. Action, being a loose definition, as they basically just skitter around. They are sadly close to extinction – thanks to their complete lack of ability to move or defend themselves?

Afterward lunch, we went to some other hot springs areas. Saw giant boiling pools with steam billowing off of them. They are all different colors depending on the amounts of sulfur.

                                           This is what happens when you spend 23 straight days together

Following that we drove back through to Tauranga. There we power walked on a path around a mountain near the port in the beachy port town of Mt. Maunganui, just making it on the boat in time. We were prepared to miss the boat and drive to Auckland, as Rotorua was that cool.

                                     

                               
Note: By the way, for those of you were confused and started googling "alien new zealand" after one of our last posts, no we did not actually see any aliens. That creature pictured is the character "Gollum" from Lord of the Rings. Which was popularly filmed in New Zealand. No, we did no go see where it was filmed, as we have no interest, and haven't actually seen the movies.

Christchurch, New Zealand

Today we sailed into the town of Christchurch, named for when the native Maoris saw the white man and said "Jesus, I bet they are going to build a Church on my ancestor's remains."  Sure, enough, they built a church, and a tram, named everything in the city after places in England, and created a little slice of England, but without all of the British people.....just kidding.  It's full of British people.  And trams, and chips and pubs.  It's New Years Eve here, so everything is fenced off and secure.  We walked throug the Botanical Gardens which were really nice, beautiful and peaceful. We rented kayaks and paddled down the Avon River here  wandered around.  I tried on size 77 shorts, which fit perfectly.  We are about to head back to the boat to enjoy New Years, 21 hours before you guys do.  After that, its one sea day, Tauranga and Auckland and then back home.  Our plane gets back at 7am Jan 4th, and i'll be at the Westwood Chipotle at 10am, when they open.  Do you know how hard it is to get mexican food here?  Really hard.  Falafel/Kebabs are easy, but they don't serve hummus.  What is a falafel with no hummus?  Not as good.  

Dunedin, New Zealand

Dunedin is a small university town on the Otago peninsula of the South Island of New Zealand.  We opted for a tour of the wildlife here, which is truly remarkable.  Our bus picked us up, and right away the guy started complaining that we were late (we were not, even Beth was on time, but only because I told her we had a 10:30 pick up time.  We really had a 10:50 pick up time).   Then he took us on the winding road surrounding the harbor.  As we climbed the hills surrounding the harbor, the roads got extremely narrow and precarious.   Naturally, our driver broadsided a taxi cab.  The woman next to us, who was privy to the view of the 300 foot drop 2 feet to her left pretty much flipped out and started screaming.  Our driver cursed the taxi driver over the speaker system.  Even after this delay we somehow ended up to our destination 20 minutes early.

From here we went on a Natures Wonders tour and got onto Argos, which are 8 wheel drive vehicles. 

We took these down to see a protected seal colony, and apparently is seal baby time.  You can pretty much guess who really really likes seal babies (Beth).  We saw a seal that was less than 1 hour old.   How can you tell?  Because the afterbirth is still visible and birds are picking at it. This is just as gross as it sounds. 

After that we argoed up to see a penguin colony.  Colony means 1 penguin in New Zealand, but still.  We then saw two small blue penguins under some rocks.  Pretty cool. 

After penguins, we went to see some other local wildlife:

From there, the bus took us to an "aquarium".  It's about 200 sq. feet and...has a touch pool!  So we touched a starfish!!!  Only in New Zealand. Ha. Interesting fact:   Dunedin has 27 gun stations guarding the harbor.  Look at a map of Dunedin.  The first gun stations were built in 1880 in case Russia invaded.  Check the map again.  Its a 20 hour plane flight to Russia.  The next set were to protect against the Japanese.  Dunedin is at the bottom right corner of NZ.  In a related story, Fox News started broadcasting here in 1879.  

New Zealand is really beautiful.  Beth had high expectations of rolling green hills, picturesque coastlines and an 8-to-1 sheep ratio.  New Zealand did not disappoint.  The hills go on for miles, and we even met a cute little sheep named Lenny who bahhed at us - video you don't want to miss to come later.   We watched the gorgeous coastline as we sailed out of the harbor later that day.

2 Sea Days and Fiordlands Scenic Cruising

We had two straight sea days, which was quite relaxing.  I read the first two books I've read since 6th grade (thanks, Economics!). Beth was so proud of me for being patient enough to read a book.  This only occured because it was during the holidays and my phone didnt work. I relaxed by the pool, had soft serve twice a day for a week, and other good food (Princess is exceling at the vegetarian options btw) and used a machine called an arc trainer to burn it off.  Beth read some lame (fun!) girlie novels, used the arc trainer, and took forever to get ready to walk to the pool.  We saw a friend from high school on the boat (Spencer Torgan on his honeymoon), and had a nice, relaxing time.  

Every cruise has the gameshow "Newlywed Game"  After our third time entering the show, we finally got picked to be contestants (fulfilling Richard's lifelong dream). Basically they pick 3 couples (of different # of years being married) to go onstage and answer questions about each other.  Needless to say we wiped the floor with the opposition and picked up 2 new hats, a bottle of champagne and a reusable grocery bag.

The next day we did a scenic cruise through Fiordland National Park in New Zealand, which has 14 Fjords and waterways.  The cliffs surrounding the waterways rise straight out of the water to 5-6,000 feet nearly straight up.  More incredibly, they are covered by thick rain forests from the water line up. The area gets a ton of rainfall (though we were lucky to experience it without rain) and creates waterfalls down the sides of the cliffs.  It was a really neat day, watching the cruise ship sail through these narrow waterways. The first fjord was at 6:45 am, and the temperature was roughly negative a billion, with fierce winds.  Most people stayed out for a few minutes before retreating to the Casino.  We took a nap and woke up for the next two as well, where the temperature was bearable.  We cruised through 5 of the 14 fjords. Next, cruising on to Dunedin, New Zealand.

Notes:

Noticing many people with giant cameras.   Isn't digital replacing these monsters?

Asian guy with a lime green jacket while watching fjords.  What was weird about that?   That he was using a camera with film!  Film!

If you have more than 6 tattoos, you probably are too cool to be on a Princess cruise.

If you are religious enough to go to mass and sing christmas carols in the atriun, you probably should be at church and not on a cruise.