SYDNEY – 23RD FEBRUARY 2013

We arrived back at Sydney Harbour at 5.30 am on Saturday morning. Even Julie managed to get up for this entry and was up on the deck. Although it was dark the entry to the harbour was amazing, notwithstanding the fact that we entered under a force 10 storm!!

We were woken at 4.30 am by a loud bang; we found out later that this was the Pilot Boat crashing into the side of the ship. Due to the gale the Pilot had to make 4 attempts to board and watching over the side I was surprised that the Pilot Boat didn’t turn turtle!!

We have one more day on the ship before dis-embarking on Sunday, 24^th. We have already completed our immigration checks thus it will only be customs to clear in the morning.

The weather is very wet and windy so we won’t be doing much of the tourist thing today. We are just going to do a bit of shopping and go to a movie.

After we leave the ship for good we are off to spend a few days with Julies Mom in Tumbi Umbi before taking the Indian Pacific to Adelaide on Wednesday. We have found a place to store our luggage so will only take a small case to Moms; thankfully because we have way too much luggage now.

We got to see Les Miserable at the movies this afternoon. Fantastic movie and a really good production.

We then returned to the ship for our last night and to pack our belongings. It's sad to say farewell to all the new friends we have made but good to be back 'home' in what is the best country on the planet.

I realise that there have been few posts about the Queen Victoria - my intention is to do a seperate blog "5 weeks aboard a Queen" in the next few weeks.

In the meantime I will continue to blog about our destinations until we arrive home next month.

So, we are now back in good ole Australia and our trip is almost over. But for now the fun continues and we still have 4 weeks to go.

BAY OF ISLANDS – 20TH FEBRUARY 3013

Our last port of call before reaching our destination of Sydney; The Bay of Islands, New Zealand. We arrived early morning to a beautiful sunny dawn.

After breakfast we were off on a tour of the island. On this occasion we were not moored to a dock but anchored in the bay thus our transfer ashore was via small tender. Consequently our transfer was dictated by the crew of Queen Elizabeth and I hand it to them; they were extremely well organised.

As we arrived at the small dock we were again greeted by a Maori ‘native’.

Our first stop was the Haruru Falls. They were not at full flow due to a several month drought but they were still very pretty.

Unfortunately we weren’t able to stay long as we were heading out to the Waimate Mission.

This is the site of the first mission in New Zealand. (Typical colonial intrusion into others’ way of life)!

It was interesting though and became a very pleasant diversion. Morning tea of scones, cream and tea was included; as if we were in need of yet more food.

From there it was onto the Waipoua Forest to see the Kauri trees. These are closely akin to the Australian Kari trees.

This forest is deeply engrained in Maori culture and hold significant meaning for the Maori people.

We visited the largest tree in the forest and were given the history of it’s’ life. The tree itself really was impressive and a sight to behold.

Our next stop was at a Copthorne Resort for ……………… Yep, you got it more food. We were served a magnificent buffet lunch in a truly idyllic setting.

The food was fantastic and the views to die for.

Our journey back to the ship was a leisurely drive through this magnificent part of the world.

We had a couple of hours to spare so before returning to the ship we took the shuttle bus into to local town and had a look around.

Then it was back on the tender and ‘all aboard’ for the final two days at sea; destination Sydney Harbour!

AUCKLAND – February 19th 2013

New Zealand, the last country stop of our cruise. Today we are in Auckland and tomorrow we call in at the Bay Of Islands.

It was a ‘big day out’ for us with a planned trip to Rotorua so we were off the ship at 8.30 am. and due back by 8.30 pm. It is a 3 hour ride to the valley and 3 hours back so we had 5 – 6 hours there.

The coach trip was great in its own right; the views from the coach were stunning.

Our first stop was for morning tea and then lunch in Rotorua. During lunch we were given a display of Maori culture.

Naturally we were given the traditional welcome of the Hakka –

-     In this case a pretty girl but not a good look!!

The views from the restaurant were stunning; as is most of what we saw of New Zealand.

The Geysers were visible from the hotel where we had lunch. It was fascinating to see the steam and hot jets not too far in the distance.

                                             They hit us with this........... 

So we hit 'em with.........

After lunch we were then taken to the geysers and mud fields. This sector commenced with a tour of the Maori tourist site.

The Geysers were blowing freely and one could feel the heat of the steam. Unfortunately the ‘big one’ didn’t blow whilst we were there but the spectacle was still phenomenal.

From here we then began our trip back to the ship; on the way we stopped off for a visit to a short agricultural show to watch ‘performing sheep’ and sheep shearing.

SHAWN THE SHEEP

I wasn’t particularly enamoured with the idea of sitting through this but it turned out to be a great experience.

I got to milk a cow!! (That’ll teach me not to volunteer)!

Julie then got bullied into volunteering for the next ‘activity’.

It turned out she was glad she did. She got to bottle feed a small lamb and as can be seen from her mush, she loved every minute of it.

All too soon it was time for the coach to leave. We got a 20 minute stop on the way to see the town where some of the Hobbit movie was filmed.

They have left the Tourism Information Center as a Hobbit House.

                                                      It looks great.

Finally we returned to the ship for another night and to sail over to The Bay O Islands for our final stop before Sydney!