Brisbane to New Zealand

  Another sea day and a chance to relax.  We took on a few rounds of trivia, yep we pretty much sucked, even at the Game Of Thrones one we thought we could rock…. It was the last formal night tonight so we all made it to dinner, both of our Covid carriers are feeling ok.  Lots and lots of people on the ship coughing….

  Not much to report today.  Another quiet one allowing our sickies to recover.  It was really rocky overnight though - probably the worst so far. We filled the day with snoozing, watching movies, reading and eating.

As predicted we had a shitty sleep. We did rat tests too which were negative.  We both now have a bit of a sore throat so expected the opposite result.  We called the parents and Don came to us to do a test - his was negative.  I called mum early and when she answered the phone she was croaky as.  I went to her cabin to do a test and it was also positive. We had actually been noticing quite a few people wearing masks on board the last few days - more than before.  It’s no surprise I guess that Covid was out and about.  I spoke to Nate and he felt pretty good, again just tired. We decided to just all lay low today and rest, effectively isolating the two positives in their cabin. So while the Bay of Islands was pretty we didn’t really have any plans to go onto land.  Additionally it was a tender port and some of our group lacked the patience to manage that.  So in the end nothing really was lost.  We delivered food to Mum and Nate got room serv...

Arrived in port early, was scheduled for 10 but we definitely came in early.  The ship always needs to be cleared by the local authorities and that’s the gamble about what time you can actually get off. We had decided that visiting the Zoo would be our plan so we had a leisurely breakfast with a plan to allow the crows to dissipate a little before we joined the throng.  We were ready by 1030 so took off about then.  The ship was berthed at a working port again so we needed to shuttle in to the Queens wharf.  Once there we were easily able to pick up a minivan to take us all over to the zoo. Sadly, and simply put, the zoo was crap.  The first few enclosures were being maintained so were empty.  We walked for 45 mins and then ended up at the cafe so figured we would try out the fish and chips.  Umm again it was crap.  Oven fires and birdseye fish fillet essentially.  At least the elephant made it out as a bit of a surprise. Our main aim of this...

Got into Tauranga a bit later today which was great as we  got to watch it port.  Was interesting as it was a narrow pathway to follow in and the ship turned so it could back in.  Again the dock was on the starboard side, most often the case this cruise. We decided not to bother getting off today - while it’s a pretty town there’s not much to see unless you’re doing a tour.  Instead, we booked the kids in to do the I fly, which is a sort of imitation sky diving experience. They looked nervous but did really well!  Both really enjoyed it! We had buffet lunch again and Tony scored some Indonesian Spicy seafood soup.  Absolutely his favourite thing so far.  They also had fried bananas, I didn’t photograph as they looked horrid but were so tasty!

Napier was the planned port today, again we arrived by 0800.  They had some trouble clearing the ship with port authorities so I think the first debarkation was around 830. We hadn’t planned much for today other than a little look around the town.  Certainly a much larger township this time, giving us art deco vibes.  The lady that drove our bus in was certainly chatty so we got a bit of a story about the town which was a nice start. After yesterdays debacle we decided to try coffee again.  We strolled to the Main Street and found a cafe to sit at.  Again the weather was quite warm - no jackets needed.  The boys agreed that the coffee was way better than on board so it was a triumph. We then walked a long the main shopping strip and Tony scored a new jumper.  We also got to see a couple of local lads trying to have a fight in the mall.  The stopped when a security guy, much bigger than all of them, intervened lol. We all agreed it was a pretty pla...

Woke this morning to yet another beautiful day.  We had thought the weather was going to turn but it hasn’t.  We docked just before 0800 today and s we we awake earlier we did get to watch us come in.  That’s one of my fav things to do for sure, watch us slow and then dock. Off to the windjammer today for breaks as we thought we could get an early look at what the bus situation looked like for Picton.  Yesterday wasn’t great, long lines and queues. It’s a working port too, and the first thing I noticed once up on deck 15 was the smell of pine.  We looked over the port side and you could see piles and piles and piles of cut timber.   This is the smallest port on this cruise, the bus took maybe 10 mins to get into the heart of town. We walked around the bay for a little bit and then wandered to the Main Street for coffee.  The main coffee place was jammed! I queued for perhaps 20 minutes and then we waited for easily another 30.  While we waited mum...

Exciting day today - we get to walk on land finally!  From memory I fully expected to have sea legs, as with the last cruise I felt wobbly back on land. Didn’t happen though! We all met for breakfast today down in the dining room.  Tony and I had watched the ship come in to Harbour, not that we specifically chose to wake up extra early, it just happened. We decided to avoid getting of as soon as the gangway was down, probably a good decision in the end.  The port was a walking port so we had to catch the free shuttle into town.  The buses were provided by the port and it didn’t feel like they had anywhere near enough for this crowd.  Also a second cruise ship was in port too - Pacific Encounter, and that holds 3000 ish passengers too. We decided to leave just after 930. There was a long queue to get off the ship but it moved pretty well.  The 6 of us didn’t have to wait too long to get a bus which was good.  Our plans for Wellington were pretty simple,...

Same routine this morning, breakfast at 8 in the main dining room.  Service seems to be a bit slow in the mornings so not sure if we will continue to eat here. I did my morning coffee run too - the double shot late worked! Was pretty much a standard seaday.  Went to a couple of trivia sessions, including an Elvis themed one…so much fun. Tony and Don had enjoyed their Espresso Martini’s, now a firm favourite! The evening entertainment was Shane St James, a hypnotist.  Mixed reactions for the group of us, but still a nice way to kill time.

  We’re now in the groove of seadays.  Breakfast, trivia,lunch, nap, trivia, dinner and then quiet time in the room.  Throw in some cocktails and mock tails and that’s about it…

Wow these beds are hard! I’d read a bit about how hard they are but I thought we should try them out first before we go worrying about sleep.  We slept not too badly considering.  We opened the curtains early to see an amazing sunrise! Tony and I woke early so we readied ourselves and gathered the parents for breakfast.  The kids needed to sleep in of course.  We opted for the main dining room as from experience it’s much quieter than the Windjammer buffet. We chose the savoury option - Tony had the bespoke omelet and I had standard eggs bene.  We didn’t want to over do it as we had big plans for lunch. We managed to find a general knowledge trivia at 1000 so that helped pass the time.  The parents are struggling to get acclimated.  Floor numbering is complicated it seems, as is fore and aft. Tony and I decided to treat us all to a special lunch at Jamie’s Italian.  More than we could eat of course but it was delish.  We never made it to Jami...

  Up bright and early to have breaks, essentially eat and drink anything left in the fridge.  One of the fun things about the accomodation we had was the garbage shute.  Once we figured it out you could see it would be handy. Our pickup was arranged for 10 am and he was a few minutes early.  We loaded all our things into the limo van and we were off.  It took us about 30 minutes to get to the port, super efficient. Tony saw the ship first, and she is a massive beast.  We got delivered right to the luggage drop off, and as soon as we got out a lovely little lady told us that as soon as we dropped off the bags we could begin to board! First up was the Covid vaccination proof and negative rat tests.  We took our tests yesterday, and kept them with us in little individual bags.  Once we showed those we could bin them so that was step 1 complete. Step two was up the escalators and was essentially answering a “does anyone feel unwell today compared to y...

Quiet day again today, ran a few last minute errands to the shops after self service breakfast in our room.  Tried the coffee from the shop downstairs today so nice and close.  The heat in the morning is quite a thing.  As soon as the sun comes up it’s hot, then the clouds come out and the humidity goes nuts. Tony seized the day and had his second and final serve of Pad Krapow.  Got it from the “normal” place today so he enjoyed it immensely.  I had a Banh mi roll that they asked to toast for me…. What is that? Fiddled around in the afternoon before heading out to dinner at the local ale house.  We had high hopes for steak but we were a little disappointed if I’m honest.  The place had embraced technology - menus from and app, ordering and paying on the app too.  The service was fair,but everything way over cooked.  The rare steak was at best medium, as was the medium rare steaks.  Mum had salmon and it was torched… We walked down the st...

 After a half decent sleep we had a leisurely start to the day in our room.  We had bought breakfast supplies late yesterday so we didn’t need to go and find any food.  I did however need to do a coffee run as instant coffee was the only other option.  I found my way to the closest 711 to grab a couple of their very reasonably priced flat whites. After breakfast we lounged around a bit before heading out the botanic gardens and the Sunday market.  The gardens were lovely and certainly had that earthy botanic smell about them.  The market was very underwhelming - mostly just food and some unappealing craft stuff.  Needless to say we weren’t there long at all. Next up was a trip to subway for mum and the Kebab shop for Don, Tony and I.  The yiros’s were delish - toasted of course. I went out again for a bit of a shop, this time I came back with a pair of new carryon sized roller cases for Tony and I.  Neither of us currently very happy with wha...

 What a journey it’s been to get here! Our last plane flight was in 2019, just before the pandemic  changed everything.  Never ever did I think that overseas, and even for many months, interstate travel was not an option. Once we saw that things were settling we booked a cruise to Japan.  And then, the world didn’t revert to normal as quickly as we thought it would so that cruise got cancelled.  So, we decided a trip closer to home would be a safer bet.  It seemed the best option would be to go visit New Zealand.  We found a 2 week cruise from Brisbane to New Zealand and return.  Flights were booked and then all we needed do was wait. Then our world changed.  Tony got diagnosed with prostatic cancer in mid 2022 so we started that fight, not knowing what was coming or how he would go.  6 rounds of chemo later things got a little under control so the green light was given. We took the dog go into the Hedgegrove Pet Retreat yesterday so her...