It started off with a couple of celebrations – one to say thanks and goodbye to Jim (the IT guy) who is heading off to New Orleans to manage his bar Finnegan’s in the old French quarter (see you there Jim for our TSS reunion) and Dana who celebrated his 70th birthday in style (a couple of us went running with Dana, 7 km’s, one for every decade) – lots of laughing at these celebrations!
But first things first, my first experience in New Zealand was to get off the ship for a hot cup of coffee – next up was a shopping trip to an outlet mall (jeans, shirt, tie and book for me and five shirts, a tie, sunglasses and book for Davis) – you’d think we hadn’t been on land for weeks!
New Zealand just kept getting better as Davis and I rented a car and headed up island – first stop the Bay of Islands (very scenic and very historical) where we caught a ferry to Russell (very much like our visit to Sonitula this summer) and hiked and poked around the island. Next day it was a stop at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds (the birthplace of New Zealand) where we learned about and experienced the Maori culture. We continued up the east coast through several fishing villages to the tip of the island (Cape Reinga) where the view and scenery were fantastic as was the sand surfing on the dunes. We raced back down to catch the sunset at Ahipara where the 90 mile beach begins. Our third day was down along the west coast and through some very hilly and winding roads through sheep and cattle farms and forest where we saw the “Tane Mahuta” (one very large Kauri tree, much like our Cathedral Grove trees on Vancouver Island). Of course we laughed and learned about driving on the “other” side of the road where the biggest problem was switching on the wipers instead of the signal light – we made it back to the ship though, through some very busy Sunday afternoon traffic heading into Auckland. All-in-all a wonderful life experience with Davis (thanks son!)
Experiencing Auckland was easy as we were docked right in the “heart” of the city, everything easy to walk to or take a bus. Thanks to Christy for renting bikes with me for the day and peddling along the coast through Mission Bay and up to some fantastic view points and then ferrying over to Devonport to cycle up to another fantastic view point. And thanks to Shirley and Elizabeth for taking me for a walk along Mission bay (after we took a bus to get to Mission Bay)
Ports also allow us the wonderful experience of sampling the local cuisine, beer and wine (and tasting flavours and freshness we don’t always get on the ship) – thanks to Dana, Brachir, Christy, fellow Rotarians (and of course Davis) and others for sharing these experiences at places such as Portofino, Tagore, Thai chilli, the Fish Pot, Duke of Malborough Hotel, Y Not Bar and Café, the Auckland Club and so on and so on!
Yes, I think I could definitely stay a bit longer in New Zealand to laugh some more, live many more moments and learn much more about the country and culture! Till we meet again New Zealand!
Ken
P.S. Stay tuned for an update from Davis
No comments:
Post a Comment