Dear Everyone,

Today we rode The Hawke’s Bay Express around Napier, a sweet little city beside the ocean which has an amazing concentration of Art Deco architecture. Apparently, much of Napier was razed by an earthquake in 1931, and the city was built back in the next three years in the Art Deco style. The Hawkes Bay Express is hard to describe, but it is a lot like the conch tour trams in Key West, but tarted up to look like a train built in the 30’s. And there is only one of these vehicles, built by Richard, a Napier native, and his father. Richard was our tour guide, and his wife, Krista, was his sidekick.

After our thrilling train/tram ride, we walked around the city and admired the Art Deco architecture.

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Random Thoughts:

Napier is an exporting seaport—primarily wool, fruit, wine, lumber and meat. And with the cruises that come in to port, tourism has become another viable source of income.

We expected it to be hot here, but so far we have had beautiful sunny days of mostly low seventies. No humidity, so really perfect weather.

I have noticed that not all of the pictures come through on the email that is generated from my posts. If you want the full-on experience, you need to click on the link to go to the website. You will not want to miss anything on this super exciting trip!

Kia Ora from New Zealand!

Today we visited the Whakarewarewa Maori Culture Center in Rotorua. And no, I have no idea how to pronounce Whakarewarewa. For those of you who work crosswords or know your history of New Zealand, the Maori are the indigenous people who were here about 600 years before the Europeans showed up. Kia Ora is their traditional greeting. At the center we saw a presentation of traditional ceremonies, dances and songs of the Maori people, which was surprisingly entertaining. (I say surprisingly because you just never know what you’re getting yourself into with these deals.) This is a picture:

Not sure what it is all about, but it sure was loud and it looked like they were having a good time.

The other part of the center is a geothermal area, which pretty much reminds me of Yellowstone National Park, but with a completely different landscape.

We were also supposed to see Kiwi Birds there, but it was kind of weird deal. Kiwis are nocturnal, so you don’t see them in the day very often. So in captivity (anyway in this case), the building—really a tunnel—was completely dark and felt a bit like we had entered a Halloween horror house. Doug said he thought he saw one on a nest, but I couldn’t see a dang thing. It just looked like a really bad diorama.

When we are on vacation, Doug always wants to buy a couple of souvenirs to gaze at with fond memories, as well as to take home and junk up our shelves. Today, since our recent Kiwi “sighting” was still fresh, we came back with these with these little guys. In this pic they are enjoying our balcony as we pulled away from shore.

Dear Everyone,

Today was our last day in Aukland. We left the port at 6 PM tonight and tomorrow morning we will wake up in in Rotorua, New Zealand. This morning we rode another ferry over to the North Shore and climbed Victoria Mountain which is actually a dormant volcano. Gorgeous views from the top:

Since we wanted to pack as much fun into today as possible, we took a bus tour of the city this afternoon. Ha! Our cruise line has at least one free guided tour per day with a local guide, and they are well worth the money. He took us to the Wintergardens, which were established in the Victorian Age:

Who Knew? Daily Fun Fact:

Aukland is known as the “City of Sails” and has more boats per capita than almost anywhere else in the world.

Dear All,

Today we boarded our ship around noon. After traveling for a week and schlepping our bags all over, we were ready to get on board, settle in and unpack our clothes. It took us a bit longer to get on because I answered the health survey honestly and said we had spent four nights in Honolulu. Big mistake. They took us aside and “quarantined” us until the ship nurse could come and take our temperature. While we were waiting I worried needlessly that I was running a fever because I was so hot. Luckily, I was heat hot, not fever hot, and we were allowed on. Yay! Not sure why Honolulu was a problem, because people who came from the Continental US were fine to board.

While we were waiting to board, we went shopping to find Doug some sunglasses. I noticed that several places were selling “Possum Merino Cashmere.” Since Merino is a breed of sheep and cashmere is from Kashmir goats, I found this pretend possum product perplexing.

Should possum and luxury ever be in the same advert? I think bloody not!

Who Knew? Daily Fun Fact:

In about 1837, the brushtail possum was introduced in New Zealand to benefit the fur industry. When fur became an unwanted commodity, the possum population had no natural enemies and grew to 70 million. And since they spent their evenings munching though the bush, they became the biggest pest in NZ. Plus, they are really ugly. So there is a cottage industry here to turn their pelts into fine clothing. And the carcasses are either made into a dog food called Possyyum, or shipped to China where they are considered a delicacy. One of the cute little guys pictured below:

Dear All,

Yesterday we had a an 8 1/2 flight from Honolulu to Auckland on New Zealand Air. Things to note:

• We overslept because Doug thought his iPad alarm at 6 AM was a dog barking. I didn’t hear it at all.
• We made it anyway, but without showers and no makeup for me. Yuk!
• I saw a girl in the Honolulu Airport who had stocking seams tattooed down the backs of her legs (see silk stockings with seams, circa WWII).
• Our flight attendant, Michael, had on a tag that said “Wine Specialist.” Totally a New Zealand thing, because there are so many vineyards and wineries here.

So, today. We took a ferry out to Waiheke Island this morning, which is about 30 minutes from the Auckland Pier. When we got there we rented a car and drove around the island. Wineries aplenty and gorgeous scenery, like this:

We stopped at the Man of War Winery for lunch. And just to prove Doug is really here:

So, we loved Waiheke Island, but the slightly disappointing thing about the Aukland Pier and waterfront is that they are busily readying the streets, buildings and so forth for the America’s Cup to be held in 2021. So, a bit of a mess and no pictures, except for the Queen Elizabeth, which is in port here:

Dear Everyone,

Today we spent most of the day at Pearl Harbor. What a sobering place to visit, but so much a part of our history. Approximately 2,400 American soldiers lost their lives there.

“Yesterday, December 7, 1941 a date which will live in infamy the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Tomorrow morning we fly out of Honolulu at 9:30 AM on Air New Zealand for a 9 hour flight to Auckland. So, we sadly say “Aloha” to our trip down memory lane in Hawaii.

Dear Everyone,

Today we drove our rental Jeep up to Oahu’s North Shore.  The picture above is probably what we could have seen had there been any place to park at any of the eight surfing beaches along the way.  Unfortunately, the entire coastline was packed out with surfers.  The surf is the highest in the winter months, with waves up to 30 feet high.  We did see some surfers out on huge waves as we drove by, so pretend I really took this picture with my iPhone.

It is a beautiful coastline.

Just so you know I’m really here, below is a picture Doug took of me last night at dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear All,

Less than twenty four hours here and I already feel as if am being lulled into a ukulele-induced stupor by the traditional Hawaiian music that is playing everywhere in this resort.  We were welcomed yesterday afternoon with an orchid lei for me and a Kuikui nut lei for Doug, and it has been the full-on Hawaiian experience since then.  What a gorgeous place!

When we planned this trip a couple of  years ago, we decided to fly via Hawaii since we were here only once in the early 80’s and thought it would be fun to see it again.  On that trip, we traveled with Janis and Calvin, and did all of touristy things we could think of, complete with going on a “Booze Cruise” at sunset.  The Booze Cruise was a bit of a letdown (perhaps we should have surmised this could be a possibility since it was called a Booze Cruise?).   We each got two watered down Blue Hawaiians, plus a very substandard meal that I mercifully can’t remember.

But I digress.  Our first trip here was fun, the company was stellar and the scenery was lovely, so we wanted to do it again.  And I won’t be buying a turquoise Mumu this time.

 

 

 

Dear Everyone,

This morning at 11:00 AM we flew from Atlanta, Georgia (courtesy of Delta Airlines) nonstop to Honolulu, Hawaii on the first leg of our trip to New Zealand and Australia.  First, four nights in Honolulu and then on to Auckland, New Zealand for a few days before we board our two week Viking Cruise that will take us around New Zealand, on to Tasmania and then finally land us in Sydney,  Australia.  I have done a blog only one other time and the whys and wherefores are not coming to mind.  I think I might be tagging it on to my last blog, but am not sure how to create a new one.  If so, please disregard the last blog and please bear with me as I relearn the art of blogging.

So, today’s happenings in no particular order:

1.  I read an entire book on the 10 hour flight and my eyes feel like sandpaper.

2.  Doug thought he had left our passports and cruise information at home during the entire 10 hour flight because they were not in his carry on (Not so.  He left them in his checked bag and they were still there!). And so he fretted for 10 hours.

3.  When we checked in to our hotel on the beach, we found they were filming an episode of American Idol at the Disney Resort next door. It’s loud, but entertaining.  See below (and above because I have no idea how to put a picture at just the end):