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!