Tauranga

Monday we were at Tauranga on the Bay of Islands, not far from our friend Sally’s home. Since we had seen the area earlier, we decided to take it easy and stay on the ship for the day. I had a massage in the spa this morning, which helped relieve some of the discomfort I’m having in my leg muscles. I also had an introductory appointment with an acupuncturist, but have decided not to pursue that course.

Otherwise, it was a restful day. I finished one book, went to the ship’s library, and got another. Dan had rice and dal at the Indian food station in the cafe for lunch. We had a lovely dinner in the main dining room. In our past cruises, we had to sign up for dinner either at 6:00 or 8:30. We like a little more flexibility, and this cruise allows us to go anytime we like between 6:00 and 9:00. Last evening was the first time we had to wait to be seated, and that was barely five minutes.

Dan and enjoyed watching the heavy equipment both in the morning and in the evening. A crane set up the exit ramp from the ship and another vehicle moved multiple containers close so they could be unloaded onto the ship. Just imagine the supplies needed to feed 2000+ people and 1500 crew members every day! It has to be one of the best organized efforts anywhere.

Sunrise from our balcony

Setting container close to ship for unloading

Setting up exit ramp

Island in the bay

Dismantling exit ramp

Chick made from towel on our bed in the evening

Sunday in the Bay of Islands

Our first stop after leaving Auckland was the Bay of Islands. It is near the north end of the North Island and a beautiful holiday spot. We anchored in the bay and tenders took us to the port near the Waitangi Treaty House. The Treaty of Waitangi was signed here in 1840 between the Maori Chiefs and the British Crown and became the basis for the working relationship between the two groups.

We got to the port about noon, and our friends Greg and Chris Mutton met us almost immediately. They live about an hour away in Whangarai and came over to spend the day with us. It was wonderful to be driven around to the three areas with historic and scenic significance. First we went up the hill for a view back over the bay and to see Haruru Falls. From there we drove to Paihia, a major tourist area. There were lots of interesting shops and cafes. We had a mussel, prawn, and crab fritter on the street for lunch. They were being sold to raise funds for the local ambulance service. Then we found a cafe and had some tea.

From Paihia we took a short car ferry to Russell, the early capital of New Zealand. We drove up to Flagstaff Hill, where Maoris repeatedly cut down the post where the flag was flown. The oldest church in NZ is in Russell, Christ Church. It was surrounded by a lovely graveyard. Inside it isn’t very large, but is quite lovely. The pews are covered with cushions upholstered with needlework designs by local women. After a look at Long Beach, we took the ferry back to Paihia and they dropped us at the dock for the tender. 

We are enjoying the scenery and beauty of this country, but it has also been a special treat to see old friends here. I’m sure today will remain as a highlight of our trip.

Inside Christ Church in Russell

Outside Christ Church

Graveyard - many said "fell asleep on [date]"

Hauru Falls

Kayakers at Hauru Falls

Dan, Chris, Greg, Anne

Long Beach

Chris and Greg at falls

Needlework pew cushions at Christ Church

View of ship from Flagstaff Hill

View over bay

Loveseat carved from root system - very comfortable!

Auckland

Our hotel in Auckland is right in the downtown business district. This is a hopping city. There are many people on the streets, lots of them Asian. The first night our room was right above a bar that had an open roof and the noise went on until past midnight. We asked to be moved and were given a room at the back, looking over some condos and parking garages. So much better!

There was a nice healthy restaurant next door called Revive and we ate supper there. I had Thai pumpkin soup and Dan had chickpeas and another veggie somewhat curried. All very tasty.

We didn’t get out much on Friday, as the streets are fairly hilly and we weren’t quite up for exploring on foot.

In the evening, we had asked for a meeting-up with Woodstock people in the area. We had a great turnout of people; there were twelve of us for dinner. (Glenys’s husband Robert arrived later.)

The Indian food was good, of course, but the conversation was wonderful. Dan and I both moved around several times to chat with more people. All in all, a fitting end to our week in New Zealand. Later today (Saturday) we board the Celebrity Solstice for the next part of our trip.

Marjorie B, Glenys M., Heather B.

Dan with Diane W. and husband

Gwen W. and Anne

Heather W., Chris and Greg M.

Visit in Opotiki

We had a wonderful visit with our friend Sally Kibblewhite. She and her late husband David were teachers at Woodstock School with us in the 1970s. They bought a property near the coast, southeast from Rotorua. David was a master gardener. He and Sally planted a forest of eucalyptus trees, more than two dozen olive trees, other fruits, and avocados, and built their retirement home there.

On Wednesday we took a drive down the southeastern coast, about an hour and a half each way. Along the way we stopped at a macadamia farm for a cup of coffee/tea. The coast was unendingly beautiful, and the hills inland were never far away.

Thursday morning we headed back north to Auckland. We are looking forward to a Woodstock gathering at an Indian restaurant on Friday evening. We board our cruise ship on Saturday and we won't have an internet connection much of the time, so posts will be a bit sporadic.

Lemon trees

View from house; Bay of Plenty in the distance

Weka, flightless bird just larger than kiwi

Vegetable garden, fenced from rabbits

Olive trees

"Selfie" of the three of us

View on coastal drive

Cafe at macadamia farm

Small Maori church

Guacamole from the ample, delicious avoids

Arrival in Opotiki

This morning we left Rotorua for Opotiki to visit our friend Sally Kibblewhite. The home she and David established here is beautiful. They have about 10 acres of land at the end of the road, with a view of the ocean. David was quite the gardener. They planted trees where there was brush. They put in more than two dozen olive trees. There are also figs, pear, apple, avocado and lemon. She now has a small vegetable garden as well.

The internet here is pretty slow and I'm having trouble linking pictures. So there may not be much here until we arrive in Auckland again on Thursday afternoon/evening.

A Day in Rotorua

On Monday morning we went to the Polynesian Spa to bathe in the thermal waters. We signed up for the Adults Area and Priest Pools. The Priest Pools are acidic and benefit the aches and pains in muscles and joints. The others are alkaline and are said to be good for the skin. I only went in the latter for a brief time; the water felt very slippery, as if it were highly softened. The three Priest Pools had different temperatures -- 39, 41, and 42 C. Dan enjoyed the hottest, but I found the 39-degree one the best for me. There were low wooden benches built into each pool so you could sit around the edge. Below is a view of one of the Priest Pools, overlooking Lake Rotorua. It was wonderful to be in the warm water and I wish I could have stayed in it longer, but 30 minutes was all I could manage.

We found a nice bakery for lunch, were we both had a Paleo-sandwich, a grain and seed tortilla wrapped around sautéed veggies and chicken or pork.

We took a rest in the afternoon and I even napped. We had signed up for a Maori village dinner and program. It was very well organized. Multiple buses went around the city picking up attendees. When we arrived at the village, we were assigned to our dining tables (about 24 tables of 10 in a tent). After some introductory remarks, we proceeded outside to see the unveiling of our dinner -- a hangi. Lamb, chicken, potatoes, and sweet potatoes were steamed in a fire pit for four hours.

Then we took a walk into the woods to see the passing of a Maori canoe on the stream. The path was pretty good, although somewhat uneven, and had more steps than I expected. The woods were beautiful.

After we returned from the canoe tableau, we went into a performance arena, a large tent with an open stage set up like a Maori village. There were dances, songs, and speeches. It was all very well done, with one person describing what was going on.

Following the performance we headed back to the dining tent and to our assigned tables. The dinner also included a variety of salads, garlic bread, and desserts. While we ate, the master of ceremonies tried to find out how many countries were represented. It was over 20. The most unusual was a group from Reunion Island near Madagascar and Mauritius.

There was one more event -- a short hike to see the glowworms in the woods. As we had missed the glowworm caves, I was looking forward to that, but, unfortunately, neither Dan nor I was up to another walk in the woods. We went into our bus and waited for the others to return.

West Coast Drive

This is the post about Saturday that I thought had already been published. Thank goodness it showed up here somehow!

The major attractions in the area we are staying are several cave tours, a waterfall, and similar wonders. However, all of them require more walking than either of us is up to right now. So we decided to take a drive to the west coast, about 50 kilometers from our motel. Our goal was the village where the Marakopa River meets the sea. It is evidently a favorite beach for fishing and surfing, although the currents are extremely strong. It is also known for its black sand volcanic beach. The sand was very fine and gritty so we didn't walk around on it.

The scenery began with farm land

At one point the view opened up across the hills to a valley

We saw many beehives like this in fields

Many one-lane bridges, clearly marked for right-of-way

Hills showing areas of trees and bare grassland

Another gorgeous view along the way

Marakopa River meets the sea

South from Marakopa we had unpaved road part of the way

We headed south through the hills to Awakino, near where our small road meets a highway. We were looking forward to lunch, as our map showed food availability here. We went into Sparky's, the only restaurant, called out, rang the bell, and left when no one showed up. I guess this isn't the season for tourists in this area. Once we got on the main road north, we found a takeaway food cafe and had lunch, but it wasn't memorable, or photogenic!

It threatened to rain off and on all day, but we didn't really hit anything heavy. Very fortunate. Tomorrow we head to Rotorua.

Waitomo to Rotorua

I was very disappointed to open up the blog today and find my post from yesterday completely missing. I had lots of photos! I will try to recreate it after I get this one up.

Today (Sunday) we traveled from the Waitomo area to Rotorua, a well-known destination for its thermal waters and adventurer tours. The rain finally came during the night and we had more off and on during the two-hour-plus drive. The scenery wasn't much different than some we saw yesterday, rolling hills with lots of sheep and cattle. The rain made picture-taking difficult.

Our motel here is much nicer than the one in Waitomo. It is really hard to tell what to expect online, even with the TripAdvisor site and all the reviews it hosts. After checking in, we went downtown to find some lunch and see what the area is like. The downtown is quite large, with shops, restaurants, and other businesses filling perhaps 12 square block or so. We were looking for a Thai restaurant, but the first one was closed. The second one was, thankfully, open. We had spring rolls and our fallback Thai dishes, Pad Thai for Dan and Pad See Yew for me.

After lunch, we drove to a point on Lake Rotorua. I tried to photograph the heavy waves, but they didn't turn out. An attraction there is the black swans, of which there were many. I did manage this one shot showing two of them with dozens of little ones. How many cygnets do they have at one time? It is hard to see them here, but all those little black dots are babies.

Traveling to New Zealand, Days 1 to 3

We left home about 11:00 in yet another snowstorm. Maybe it will be the last one for this winter in northern Indiana. We can only hope spring comes soon! It was a slow drive to Michigan City, but we didn’t have any real trouble. In fact, the further west we went, the nearer we were to the end of the storm. The bus leaves from a new location just a mile or so from the old one. Instead of a hotel parking lot, it is in a shopping center with space allowed for long-term parking at no cost. We arrived just a half hour before the bus was due, enough time to go into Applebee’s and have a quick bite to eat. Once we were on the bus, it got stuck trying to pull out of the parking lot into the street. After much wheel-spinning and patient (or not) waiting, it began to move. Everything was behind schedule because of the storm that had come through Chicago earlier. When we arrived at the United check-in area, there were many people milling around trying to talk to an agent. It seems that many flights out of O’Hare had been cancelled that morning and people had been waiting around for some time. We couldn’t check in via a kiosk, as our tickets were from Air New Zealand and not recognized by United’s system. Eventually we got to the front of the line and got our boarding passes. After another 10-15 minutes my wheelchair arrived. From there we had a very easy time, being taking right through security and delivered to our gate area. We only had about an hour to wait; we were glad we had left much earlier than planned and caught an earlier bus.

We were disappointed to be assigned a middle and a window seat. The plane was not quite full, and the young woman assigned our aisle seat moved to sit with her friends. So in the end we had an empty middle seat between us. That is luxury in economy.

We were met at Los Angeles by another wheelchair. But this time we had to change terminals, which involved a long distance to the baggage area and the outdoor transportation area. At that point we were put into a special mobility bus that took us to the international terminal, quite a distance away. There was another chair waiting for us, and we were taken directly to the Air New Zealand Premier Lounge. We had found out just a few days earlier that our Premium Economy seats had been upgraded to Business Class. We felt like quite the yokels in the lounge, having seen these places so often and never been allowed inside! The chairs were very comfortable and there was an array of food and drink available. At last we were taken to the plane, where we were the first on board. It was so amazing to us to be there. We have traveled to and from India many times, as well as to South Africa and Thailand, but we had never “turned left” when entering the plane. (Fans of “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” may remember that was an important thing to the unhappy woman who left India to return home.) By this time (11:00 PM, 2 AM at home) we were ready to get some sleep. Dinner was on offer, but neither of us wanted it. As soon as possible after takeoff, we fixed up our beds on the seat, which automatically laid out flat. There was a nice mattress that fit it perfectly, two nice pillows, and a quilt-like blanket. Both Dan and I were asleep within minutes. It was very comfortable and we both slept a good long time — at least seven hours.

Morning tea was available in nice porcelain mugs. We could order whatever breakfast we wanted, cooked to order. I had Eggs Benedict with spinach. The entertainment system was extensive, although I didn’t even look at it until morning. I was thrilled to watch “Philomena,” a Judi Dench movie that I’ve been wanting to see. There were many other choices as well.

Deplaning and going through immigration and baggage was again made easy by my wheelchair assistant. Our car rental agency required a shuttle bus ride and we were soon there. We brought our Garmin GPS system with us, including the Australia/New Zealand SD card. We plugged in the address of our motel and took off. It was about a three-hour drive to Waitomo, an area with many caves. We had hoped to tour at least one, but Dan and I are both having some mobility issues that make walking difficult, so we will do something else tomorrow.

Our very basic motel, the Glowworm (at least one of the caves is lit up by them), is only a few miles from the town of Otorohanga. After getting checked in, we went into town for lunch and to pick up a few groceries for supper and breakfast. We will spend the rest of the day relaxing and trying not to sleep too early! And, yes, we left on Wednesday the 12th, but arrived here on Friday the 14th, having crossed the International Date Line. At the end, we will fly from Sydney through Auckland back to LA and Chicago all in one day.

Tomorrow I promise to have some photos!