Kiwi Adventures!

The last few ports in New Zealand turned out to be a whole lot of fun. The ship offered a crew tour to go whitewate rafting in Tauranga, and several of my friends and I signed up. I didn't really know what I was getting into, my last rafting experience having involved no paddling or moments of high adrenaline. This tour took us to some class 5 rapids, and we were definitely all paddling! There were six of us in our raft, plus the guide. We got to go through some exciting rapids and culminated in a terrifying 7 meter waterfall. Umm.....what?? We made it over without flipping, but one of the other rafts wasn't so lucky and everyone in it got dumped in the river. People were falling out of their rafts left and right. It was quite a rush!! We were all grinning and loving it the whole time. After rafting, my friend Tim and I had just enough time to climb up Mount Mauao (I think I got the order of those vowels right...) which is right next to where we dock. Its only about an hour to get up and back, so nothing serious, but a beautiful view from the top.

I have been working for Shore Excursions all week, and finally traded in that time spent for some tours on our last two ports. In Auckland I climbed the harbor bridge, which was a really neat experience. I also happened to get to see my friends bungy jump from the bridge as I climbed back down it. We stopped to watch 2 or 3 jumps, and I got to witness Tim's face as he did his very first bungy jump. Classic. A lot of my friends are going to go again next time we're here, but I'm not convinced yet. It is actually really safe though. I know, Mom, you don't want me jumping off bridges, I know I know....

Today I was lucky enough to be able to have lunch with the captain, Captain Rick, and some guests in the dining room. Captain Rick does this with VIP guests fairly often, and they like to send someone along from the cruise division as well. This is the first time anyone's called me to do it, and I was happy they did. It was neat to be able to sit down to lunch with the captain and ask him questions, and fun to chat with and answer questions from the guests after he had to leave.

Tonight was a Beatles tribute band, which means we had the night off. Hooray! A bunch of us went to the show just for fun. The best thing about it was that we weren't playing in it. :-)

New Zealand so far

We started our New Zealand cruise with a day exploring Milford, Doubtful, and Dusky Sounds in the South island. The scenery reminded me of parts of Alaska and of norwegian Fjords. We were very lucky with the weather, and had beautiful blue sunny skies in a place where is is raining almost all the time. We got quite a shock though at how cold and dry it was in the south of New Zealand, as compared to Sydney and the south pacific islands we've been cruising. It was very cold our first couple of ports. Now we're up in the north island, and things are much warmer here.

I was unlucky enough to be one of the 2% of crew that had to turn up at 6:45am in our first New Zealand port (Dunedin) for a random passport check. Not fun. I didn't even end up getting off the ship that day because I had a pretty bad cold. It was a good day to stay warm in bed.

In Christchurch I went out to lunch with friends, did some shopping, and climbed the bell tower of the cathedral in the center of town. I was at the top of that tower once before when I was here in New Zealand 6 years ago, and it was neat to be in the same place again, but with different people and at a different place in my life.

In Wellington I checked out the Te Papa museum, probably the most famous in New Zealand, and got to see a preserved "colossal squid" that was found in the Antarctic. Wellington is actually the capital of New Zealand, despite Auckland being much bigger and more populated, with the country's primary airport. In the afternoon I also got to meet up with my old friend Hayden, who lives there. Hayden was the sax player in the band on my very first ship 3 years ago, Celebrity's Galaxy. It was wonderful to catch up with him for a few hours.

In Napier a few of us went out to lunch and then went on a scenic tour for a couple of hours. The countryside was really beautiful. We went to the top of Te Mata mountain for some photos, and got to visit a winery as well. Hawkes Bay region is famous for its wine. I also got to have my first sheep sighting. They are everywhere in New Zealand as soon as you leave the cities. As we sailed away from Napier that night, I saw one of the most beautiful sunsets of my life. It was truly incredible. It stopped all of us in our tracks and had us staring for half an hour. I was really blessed. Thanks God!!