We arrived in Auckland, New Zealand today and it’s a lovely city - one that we intend to revisit some time in the near future. The boat was able to dock right at the pier which is right at the bottom of the main street (or one of the main shopping streets). We decided to take a walk up the street to see what was around and to find some t-shirts for the boys. There were tons of souvenir shops and we were able to find some cute t-shirts - one has a digger on it that we just HAD to get for Colin since he is crazy about diggers (it says ‘I dig NZ) - we are sure he will love it! I also bought myself a spoon and we got a postcard to mail to Colin.
We also found quite a few internet cafes and we were glad to see that the prices were great. We didn’t have any NZ money and the places didn’t take Australian or American, but we were able to find a place which would take Australian for payment so we sat down at a computer and finally had some contact with our family and friends back home. It was so nice to read Terri-Ann’s blog to find out how the boys are doing. We knew Terri-Ann’s blog’s name off by heart, but we didn’t know Krystal’s so we couldn’t catch up on what is happening with Alexander. We sent a short email to everyone telling them we were having a great time. We were actually glad to see that there weren’t any emails from anyone cuz that meant that everyone was okay at home - we do worry about that on the ship when we don’t have internet access, but we know that if there is something important that we need to know from home, that they can contact us via Princess.
By the time we were done emailing, we didn’t have time to go back to the ship for lunch before we had to be ready for our bus tour around Auckland. So we took a quick bathroom break on the pier and then got on the bus for our tour. Our bus driver was really nice and drove us around the different neighbourhoods of Auckland giving us a running commentary of what we were seeing plus some historical information. We did find that there was a lot of traffic in Auckland even though it was early afternoon - so it took us quite a bit of time to see around the city. There were some very picturesque sights to see, though - and we are looking forward to returning to this city to do some more exploring.
At one of the scenic rest stops, we popped into a Burger King and got a kid-sized meal to share as we were hungry by this time from missing lunch. After the tour, we got back on the boat and went for afternoon tea in the Portofino dining room. We have been meaning to go for this all cruise, but every day we either have something to do or are napping or are too full to eat it. We had little egg salad croissants (I have been craving egg salad for a couple of days now), a couple of little pieces of cake, and a scone with strawberry jam and cream. We had milk to drink. The scone was nice although it disn’t compare to the ones we used to get in England. English clotted cream on strawberry homemade jam on freshly made soft scones cannot be beat! Yummy!
The show this evening was the ‘Traditional Folkloric Show’ starring “Haka the Legend”. There was only going to be one performance and so we knew it would be filling up really early. We went at 6:30pm to the Princess Theatre for the show at 7:30pm and even by then the theatre was a quarter full. By 7pm it was standing room only. The show was only 40 minutes so I don’t know why they couldn’t do two shows since we didn’t leave the dock until 10pm. I know that a lot of people were disappointed at either having to stand for the show or not being able to get in and see the show. The show itself was a Maori performance with songs, action songs and poi dancing. The dancers were amazing - they are so talented - and I love watching native dancers perform. There was a lady who introduced each part of the show by telling us about the dance we were about to see. It was a really good show although there wasn’t as much action as we had seen in other folkloric shows this cruise.
After the show, we had our dinner and as always it was delicious. We both had a wonderful british meal of roast beef, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables and Yorkshire pudding. As usual, I forgot to tell them to only bring me half the meat and so I gave Mike some of mine which he eagerly gobbled up. I asked the waiter not to bring me any vegetables as often I don’t like the kind they bring. Wouldn’t you know it - tonight they brought all the ones I love (peas, carrots and beans), so Mike shared his with me.
We also found quite a few internet cafes and we were glad to see that the prices were great. We didn’t have any NZ money and the places didn’t take Australian or American, but we were able to find a place which would take Australian for payment so we sat down at a computer and finally had some contact with our family and friends back home. It was so nice to read Terri-Ann’s blog to find out how the boys are doing. We knew Terri-Ann’s blog’s name off by heart, but we didn’t know Krystal’s so we couldn’t catch up on what is happening with Alexander. We sent a short email to everyone telling them we were having a great time. We were actually glad to see that there weren’t any emails from anyone cuz that meant that everyone was okay at home - we do worry about that on the ship when we don’t have internet access, but we know that if there is something important that we need to know from home, that they can contact us via Princess.
By the time we were done emailing, we didn’t have time to go back to the ship for lunch before we had to be ready for our bus tour around Auckland. So we took a quick bathroom break on the pier and then got on the bus for our tour. Our bus driver was really nice and drove us around the different neighbourhoods of Auckland giving us a running commentary of what we were seeing plus some historical information. We did find that there was a lot of traffic in Auckland even though it was early afternoon - so it took us quite a bit of time to see around the city. There were some very picturesque sights to see, though - and we are looking forward to returning to this city to do some more exploring.
At one of the scenic rest stops, we popped into a Burger King and got a kid-sized meal to share as we were hungry by this time from missing lunch. After the tour, we got back on the boat and went for afternoon tea in the Portofino dining room. We have been meaning to go for this all cruise, but every day we either have something to do or are napping or are too full to eat it. We had little egg salad croissants (I have been craving egg salad for a couple of days now), a couple of little pieces of cake, and a scone with strawberry jam and cream. We had milk to drink. The scone was nice although it disn’t compare to the ones we used to get in England. English clotted cream on strawberry homemade jam on freshly made soft scones cannot be beat! Yummy!
The show this evening was the ‘Traditional Folkloric Show’ starring “Haka the Legend”. There was only going to be one performance and so we knew it would be filling up really early. We went at 6:30pm to the Princess Theatre for the show at 7:30pm and even by then the theatre was a quarter full. By 7pm it was standing room only. The show was only 40 minutes so I don’t know why they couldn’t do two shows since we didn’t leave the dock until 10pm. I know that a lot of people were disappointed at either having to stand for the show or not being able to get in and see the show. The show itself was a Maori performance with songs, action songs and poi dancing. The dancers were amazing - they are so talented - and I love watching native dancers perform. There was a lady who introduced each part of the show by telling us about the dance we were about to see. It was a really good show although there wasn’t as much action as we had seen in other folkloric shows this cruise.
After the show, we had our dinner and as always it was delicious. We both had a wonderful british meal of roast beef, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables and Yorkshire pudding. As usual, I forgot to tell them to only bring me half the meat and so I gave Mike some of mine which he eagerly gobbled up. I asked the waiter not to bring me any vegetables as often I don’t like the kind they bring. Wouldn’t you know it - tonight they brought all the ones I love (peas, carrots and beans), so Mike shared his with me.
Auckland, New Zealand
Old and new architecture in Auckland
All-way walk - crossing the road all at once in Auckland.
Auckland cityscape from the harbour.
Downtown Auckland
Park in the middle of Auckland.
Boats in the harbour in Auckland.
View from high up in Auckland.
Houses on a hilltop in Auckland.
Traditional Folkloric Show - Maori dancers
Narrator introducing Maori traditional dance.
Auckland at night.
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