10/17/11 – Sea Princess
The comedy show rolled into town, as we lugged our luggage up and down the sidewalks from our hotel to the ship, 15 blocks away… Of course we were not going to take a taxi when we could walk for FREE, so as I chased after my roller bag speeding down the hill in front of me, I am sure people stopped to watch and laugh at the site passing by them. Today we boarded the Sea Princess, a Princess Cruise Line ship taking us round trip out of Sydney all around New Zealand. We were not supposed to board until 4pm, but we showed up at 1pm so we could take advantage of having lunch on the ship. After checking in we were given a number and told it would be an hour or two until our number was called. We were starving and did not want to pay for lunch, so I put together a little plan, worked my magic, and 2 minutes later we were embarking… I’ll just leave it at that and say that I am a great person to have around! 
Unfortunately we were not upgraded to an outside room, so we remained stuck in our inside cupboard, and when I say cupboard I literally mean the size of a closet, but it was not all that bad. Even though we had about three steps to walk before crawling onto our bed, stepping up into the bathroom, or running into the wall, our location was great.
Our room is on the 11th floor at the very back of the ship, and the 11th floor happens to be the only floor with a entire back deck with lounge chairs to layout on, and as an extra bonus, just one quick flight of stairs up leads to a secret Jacuzzi area! So all in all the room is horrible, but the location makes it manageable.
The ship is unlike any ship I have sailed on before, with a huge movie screen out by the pool that plays music videos and movies all day, but the older crowd sailing with us Tommy and I are very much used to! Sailing out of Sydney was incredible, especially gliding right under the Sydney Harbour Bridge on such a huge ship, and we toasted to a great New Zealand Cruise!
Sailing right under the Sydney Harbour Bridge!
Life Boat Drill...Inside?
At least Tommy was ready!
At least Tommy was ready!
10/18/11 – At Sea
We hate our room! Who knew it was so hard to have a room with no windows! We did not wake up until 11am this morning because we could not tell what time it was with no natural light streaming in. We are definitely going to have to start setting an alarm. The sea as pretty darn rough, which is typical for the Tasman Sea, but we were really rocking and rolling our way to New Zealand. Surprisingly we went to an art auction on board, of course only because they were serving complimentary champagne, and all of the paintings tipped over, knocking down like a set of dominos because of the huge swells. We actually participated in a lot the ship had to offer today, one being the opportunity to win $1,000 worth of prizes after turning in a fully stamped card received from stopping by many locations around the ship. I already had warned Tommy that I never win anything, so I let him go turn in our slips to avoid my bad luck, but who would have guessed that I would be the one to win something! It was probably the only prize I was not interested in winning, but what the heck, I won something! I won two half-day passes to the Sanctuary. The Sanctuary is on the very top deck of the ship (Deck 15) all the way forward, and is a very luxurious outdoor adult pool, spa, relaxation area that passengers can pay for to use the area for the day. Well, it looks like Tommy and I will be enjoying a day of luxury in the near future thanks to me! The funniest part of the day was when we stopped in to watch one of the activities offered on the ship, a spin off from Glee. About 20 passengers showed up to form an onboard Glee club and learned songs and dances to go with different numbers, which Tommy and I got to sit and enjoy/LAUGH at the scene. It was pretty hilarious. The first day onboard ended on a good note when we received more FREE champagne at the Captain’s Welcome party!!! Cheers to some bubbly! 
The Sanctuary (I won the 2 half-day passes that were never used because we had no sun!)
10/19/11 – At Sea
Happy Birthday Molly from the Tasman Sea!!!
Today was an extremely rough day at sea. Huge waves, jolting and rattling the vessel, hit the ship at all angles leading to some very unfortunate news. We do not get to go to Fiordland National Park tomorrow because it is too rough and too windy to make it there. In order to even make it to our port on Friday we have to head there now going against the strong wind. Such a bummer!
10/20/11 – At Sea (booo!)
We wish we could have been sailing through the fjords this morning, but instead we woke up to a grey, rainy and windy day at sea. We bundled up and went out to the walking deck to combat the weather with some laps. The fresh air felt great, but was very chilly! After a good work out, we stepped up our intensity by braving the elements as we slid down into the Jacuzzi. As our bodies melted into the bubbling water, our faces were pounded with wind and ice cold rain. Brrrr!
10/21/11 – Dunedin, New Zealand
Kiwi-a-go-go! We finally saw New Zealand for the first time this morning, but that was through the pouring rain and heavy fog sitting on the water. Visibility was about 100 feet, but we could still see some of the beautiful green rolling hills in the small inlet leading us to Port Chalmers. Port Chalmers is about seven and a half miles from Dunedin, but the water is too shallow for the ship to take us all the way in. We were really looking forward to taking the scenic train all along the coast, up to Locarch Castle, the only castle in New Zealand, but we could barely see the water from the bus with the thick fog hovering halfway down the mountains and the windows fogging over, so we realized we would not be able to see much out of the train windows. Instead we put up our brellie (what Kiwi’s call umbrellas), and bared the elements as we wandered throughout the quaint city of Dunedin. Dunedin is the 4th largest city in New Zealand, but to us was more of a large town with beautiful old churches and architecture. Of course on a cold day what better way to warm up than the taste of chocolate melting in your mouth, sitting by the fire, drinking a beer, and eating some comfort food. Of course we did all of the above! 
After stopping by the Cadbury chocolate factory and devouring some sweet treats, we headed to the local brewery for some beers accompanied by some bangers and mash. DELICIOUS! We met a nice Canadian couple in the brewpub that looked oddly familiar, and I figured it was because they must be on our ship. Well turns out they were on our ship, but they also were on the LA to Sydney crossing on the Volendam! Small world… It was hard leaving our spot right in front of the fire, but we headed out to catch the shuttle back to Port Chalmers. After exploring a beautiful old church with the loveliest elderly Kiwi’s waiting for any visitors to make the trek up in the rain, we rushed back to the ship for some hot tea and a Jacuzzi to warm us up! We are praying for some sun tomorrow.
Tonight at dinner we could not avoid buying some freshly made Limóncello that came with free shot glasses! Not only was it delicious, but also our waiter Joseph snuck us two extra shots! We had a fun night…
10/22/11 – Akaroa, New Zealand
We were happy to see a little bit of sun shining through the clouds as we pulled into the harbor of Akaroa. Today was a tender day, so our big ship sat in the middle of the brightest green rolling hills that made up the harbor. We came through a small inlet and tendered into a small quaint little town. We were supposed to go to Christchurch today, but it is still too devastated from the earthquake, so Akaroa (about 86 km away) was chosen as our alternative port. Tommy and I walked as far as we could each way, wandering in and out of shops and through the outdoor markets on the way. On our first exploration we accidentally wandered a bit too far onto someone’s private farm, which was easy to figure out when we realized we were off the path and surrounded by sheep. After a long day of walking we topped it off with a great meal of their famous blue cod at a great spot on the harbor, and of course we cheered our good day with a beer at the local brewery.
50 MPH Winds Hit as we pulled out of the port and into the open sea.
10/23/11 – Wellington, New Zealand
Sailing into Wellington
At the top of our Lord of the Rings hike!
Unfortunately we were welcomed by another overcast day! We have just been so unlucky with the weather. Where we docked was inconveniently a mile and a half outside of the town center, and we did not feel much like paying for the shuttle, so we put on our walking shoes and spent the next 7 hours walking through the city. We have found that the harbors in New Zealand are pretty spectacular. After pulling through the small opening, the ship ends up surrounded in the middle of a huge circle of mountains. It is quite an amazing site to see. We explored the main part of town, wandering through parliament, and stopped in for a bit of a Sunday mass at the Queen’s church before Tommy dragged me away. The town was completely dead, so we walked towards the harbor, and found a great farmer’s market to try all the samples and have a delicious lunch of venison, pizza, kebabs, and a damn good churro! Honestly, we were pretty bored and bummed out about the weather. If we had to walk through one more museum to pass the time we were going to just start crying on the spot! 
Luckily we kept walking and walking along the harbor quay, which eventually ran us into a sign advertising a hike up to Mount Victoria’s Peak. Well in one of those darn museums we had been in, we read that parts of Lord of the Rings were filmed on Mount Victoria, so we were excited for a little adventure! After hiking up most of the steep but well carved out hiking trail, we decided to spice it up a bit by scaling the mountain. I am not sure how we walked straight up the side, but we were feeling the Lord of the Ring vibe, and pretended we were on the set…we are a bit weird. At the top we got a spectacular 360-degree view of the entire, huge harbor (or as Tommy says, Gyna-Normous!). Our moods were definitely turned around after our hike, and we celebrated with a beer in the Kiwi Pub before heading to the ship for a Jacuzzi sail away. 
The Rugby World Cup 2011 championship game was played tonight, New Zealand vs. France. The World Cup was hosted by New Zealand this year, with the final game held in Auckland (where we wish we were today!!!). Unfortunately we did not stay late at the port of Wellington, so we could not enjoy the game festivities in a local bar, but we did have three huge screens set up in the theatre where we could cheer on the All Blacks. In a great battle that came down to the final minutes, the All Blacks defeated the French! It was a great victory that we were happy to be a part of. 
10/24/11 – Napier, New Zealand
One word: SUN! It finally is back in our lives after a very dreary New Zealand journey thus far. Napier is an art deco town with great 1930s architecture on the majority of the buildings. We actually lucked out coming to town today because it is Labor Day in New Zealand, which for us meant the presence of people taking a nice coastal drive in their old, beautiful cars with their top hats on and the windows down. It really completed the overall atmosphere of this art deco town, making it feel like we had stepped through a porthole back in time. It took us an hour to stroll through the entire town, so we decided to take a tour to Hawk’s Bay where the wineries were located. 
After passing by many great sites to see, we finished our tour at the Mission Estate Vineyard, the oldest winery in New Zealand. This was an absolutely beautiful place that was most well known for their Syrah (red wine) and Chardonnay (white wine). We ended up buying a bottle of the Chardonnay to enjoy back on the ship. Unfortunately our time was cut short at this port with our departure time being at 2pm, but with the sun shining, we pulled out some nice lounge chairs on the back of our deck on the ship, popped open a bottle of wine we had bought in Wellington, and toasted to the rays of sun finally warming up our frozen bodies! 
10/25/11 – Tauranga, New Zealand
Before leaving for New Zealand, we had heard about a cargo ship that had crashed into a coral reef somewhere along the Bay of Plenty, and had dropped some containers as well as leaked some oil into the water. That ship happened to be just off the coast of Tauranga, and we could actually see it from the top of the mountain we hiked. A helicopter zoomed back and forth removing containers from the ship, and as we hiked down the backside of the mountain to a gorgeous white-sand beach, we saw teams of volunteers in full body protection suits cleaning up the oil that had washed ashore. This was a terrible site to see, but fascinating that we witnessed what we had watched on the news a week earlier. On our tour later, our guide told us that the reef the captain crashed into was the only reef out there and only an 800-meter reef. I now understood why the captain was thrown in jail and so hated by the people, because it is difficult to run into this reef, and he did so because no one was navigating the ship when it happened as all the crew on the ship was celebrating the captain’s birthday…what an irresponsible idiot!
After our hike down, we walked across the beach to a sandbar that connected out to a small island and we were able to walk across and through to the tip. Here we could see some of the oil shining on the rocks. We walked through the main part of town, which had very cute shops and restaurants, giving the vibe of a fun beach town. We had read about Tauranga having many natural hot springs and geysers, and really wanted to see some of these natural wonders, so we booked a 3-hour tour. Our tour guide, Blaire, drove us 45 minutes out to do a long walk through the bush to see the Kairua tree, a large, strong tree that rivals the height and width of our California redwoods. The tree we saw was 600 years old and was already huge; these trees live to be 2,000 years old! The bush around us was very thick and dense with a trickling stream carving through the middle. We next headed to go kayaking on a river with the legend of the Lady of the Lake that protected it. The native people of New Zealand are called Maori people, and so before heading out on the river, Blaire told us some of the myths and stories of the Maori people that were quite interesting, and had a specific message to them. Without even realizing it, Tommy and I kayaked for 3 miles, no wonder why my arms felt like they were going to fall off!!! 
Our last destination on our tour was the absolute best way to end our day! After hiking the mountain in the morning and paddling our arms silly out in the kayak, what better way to sooth our bodies than slipping into a natural hot spring that was a bubbling 102 degrees. It felt absolutely amazing, and was really neat to be sitting in the middle of the bush soaking in this natural phenomenon. 
10/26/11 – Auckland, New Zealand
Auckland was another great place to dock, because we walked off the ship right into the heart of the city. We explored the main part of the city by walking up Queen St., which is the main street with shops similar to Sydney’s George St. We decided to take the ferry over to Waiheke Island, a 40-minute ride to the small beautiful island populated by 24 wineries. Vineyards covered the rolling green hills and at every winery we could look out and see the ocean. We tried the most delicious wines, great Chardonnays and Syrahs, at three different wineries. When we got off the ferry, we decided to walk the trail along the coast to reach the wineries rather than taking the bus or a private tour. This ended up being a tough hike through the bush, making it an hour and twenty minute walk in our nice clothes to reach the first winery, but it was absolutely beautiful and a great workout. The beauty made it worth the hike, and it was really something viewing the vineyards off in the distance. We turned up the trail inland and walked up a hill to the first vineyard that unfortunately was still being built so we had to turn right back around and walk back down the hill to the next vineyard. Luckily, the next vineyard was right next to two other vineyards making it easy for us to hop from one to the next. The three vineyards were called Jurassic Ridge, Mudbrick Vineyard, and Cable Bay. The only one we did not much care for was Mudbrick because of the service from a snobby Northern California girl working in New Zealand as well as the overpriced wines and cheese board, but a beautiful estate. After three tastings, we headed back towards the ferry with two bottles of wine in hand. Before catching the 4pm ferry, we walked across the island to the opposite coast line where there was a beautiful beach and small town. Luckily we caught the 4pm ferry because it was the last ferry we could take in order to make the ship! Another couple was not as lucky and actually missed this ferry and were lucky to get back on the ship 20 minutes late, and the captain announced that we were just about to push off when they came running to the gangway.
The Sea Princess has a huge screen over the pool area in the middle of the ship that shows what is called Movies Under the Stars. This is actually a really cool thing that they do, and Tommy and I went to the 9pm movie showing up the last Lord of the Rings movie (we watched the first and second the past two nights under the stars). It was the perfect setting, laying on the lounge chairs bundled up in many blankets with our popcorn and tea in hand, cruising through the waters of New Zealand, the country where Lord of the Rings was filmed.
10/27/11 – Bay of Islands, New Zealand
Russell (left), Tommy on the ferry to Russell (right)
Bay of Islands is the perfect place to anchor because its name is a perfect description leaving the ship surrounded by many small beautiful islands. Our ship tendered into the main island with the biggest town where a shuttle bus awaited to drive us into the town center. This was a very cute town with an artisan market set up on the lawn, and shops and bars all along a main street. 
We ended up taking a ferry across the way to Russell Bay, a wonderful quaint town filled with history. On the ferry we pass right by many of the smaller islands, and along the coast of the town are old, beautiful homes and restaurants. Some of the houses are in their original form from the 1800s. Russell has the oldest church in New Zealand, Christchurch (not the city, but the church’s name!). We hiked up a trail through the bush to the top of the highest point on the island, which was only about a 30 minute walk through dense trees and vines, marked as Kiwi territory (a kiwi is a type of bird in New Zealand that can’t fly). At the top is a historic landmark called Flagstaff, and we had the most spectacular 360-degree view of the entire Bay of Islands area. Yet another beautiful place, and the weather was very kind to us with the sun shining high, and our first time to wear our shorts! 
10/28/11 – At Sea
Our New Zealand adventure has come to an end leaving us with two days of crossing the Tasman Sea back to Sydney. We had the most amazing trip and absolutely loved New Zealand, but we are anxious to get back to Sydney and move into our first apartment! We are sick of living in the dark hole (what we refer to our room as), and made sure we spent our entire day outside away from the sleepy darkness. As I talked about before, the Sea Princess has a huge screen above the main pool area that shows movies and concerts throughout the day, as well as one every night called Movies Under the Stars. Well during the day it is more like Movies Under the Sun, but still a fun way to watch a movie while getting some good vitamin D. We enjoyed a movie on deck, a nice workout, Jacuzzi time, and a wine toast to a great cruise before heading to our last formal diner with our great waiter Joseph. There was a farewell party held in the middle of the ship with a big balloon drop, champagne flowing and a big dance party to celebrate the ending of a great cruise.
10/29/11 – At Sea
Today is the dreaded packing day. Somehow Tommy and I have managed to avoid doing laundry since leaving LA…thank gosh we have a laundry machine at our new apartment! I mentioned earlier that I never win anything EVER, but somehow at the beginning of this cruise I won something in a raffle. Well, I also was randomly selected as a winner to get $30 off some spa treatments. Of course I was so excited to finally be the recipient of a prize, until I realized that my prizes were useless to me. The two half-day passes to a special area on the trip called the Sanctuary were pointless to use, why would I go up to the lounge area to freeze my booty off with the lack of sun, and my other prize was $30 off a $156 facial facelift… well not only is that still expensive but I am pretty sure I do not need a facelift yet? Anyways, so much for winning anything!
Luckily the seas are smooth on our way back across the Tasman Sea, we only hit one big swell yesterday that jolted the ship around for a bit before it calmed, so we have smooth sailing the rest of the way home (we can’t believe Sydney is our home!).
Sailing into Sydney Harbour
