February 17, 2013  Sea Day

On this day several members of the Amsterdam Orchestra were guests at the Good Morning Amsterdam show. The music director and pianist Irving, the drummer Chris and the trumpet player, who is also named Chris, were guests. They are all excellent musicians who are required to be able to sight read and perform any piece of music on very short notice. They accompany almost every guest performer who performs onboard, they perform at every sail away party, and they perform at every dance ball and for miscellaneous events onboard. They often have never seen the music until the rehearsal a few hours before a performer gives two shows that evening. In one case, Chris the drummer accompanied a pianist who performed a 45-minute concert without a break.

There is a celebrity guest chef onboard by the name of Denise Vivaldo. She has catered more than 10,000 parties, been a professor at UCLA’s Culinary Program, owned a catering business, authored numerous books on catering and food related topics and more. She is quite a character and gave a class on “Do It For Less! Parties” today where she made Spinach Sausage Beggar’s Purses—sure to be on our next dinner party menu upon return to San Diego.  These appetizers consist of the spinach, sausage and feta cheese wrapped in phyllo dough.  Salty and nice!

We attended a lecture on Tasmania as a Penal Colony where we learned about the history of British sending convicts to Port Arthur. Tomorrow we will visit the penal colony to get a better understanding of how it looked and operated. It was in operation for about fifty years in the early nineteenth century and housed over 150,000 convicts. Some of the convicts were as young as nine years old.

We had a luncheon date with Blair and Marie, French Canadians from Ottawa, on their second world cruise.  Marie is very fashionable and makes many of he own clothes.  (I mentioned her above—2/14 ).  Mark had a “spell” and returned to the cabin to rest while Kent kept the luncheon date.  Blair and Marie were fun and share an interest in meeting new people, seeing new places and learning new things with us.  Mark will join another time!

The entertainment on this night was a group of three young Australian men who call themselves The Aussie Boys.  There is also a fourth who is an understudy. They performed Iconic Australian songs.  Kent, already a fan from the sail away, had a front row seat!

43 Days on Board—We are in our 43^rd day on the cruise.  Dryness is becoming a problem.  The air on the ship is comfortable but dry.  Nose, throat and skin are always dry.  The local advice is to spend as much time on the deck as possible and use lots of skin lotion.  Great lanolin oils and lotions are available in New Zealand and Australia, so there is hope!

Sydney Harbor Bridge

Kent and our student Olivier

Manley Beach

February 16, 2013  Sydney, Australia

The weather on this Sunday morning was rain filled but luckily it did not last too long and the sun came out for the remainder of the day.

We were lucky to be able to visit with one of our French students, who studied at San Diego State in 2008, whom we had mentored. Olivier has had the opportunity to travel the world and study in cities like Sydney, Montreal and San Diego. He also was able to travel in India while helping to film a documentary and to volunteer in a remote village in Ecuador. Olivier got his masters degree in Sydney and did a semester in Buenos Aires.  He had just arrived in Sydney from Paris, where his family lives, to try and find a job.

We were able to catch up over coffee while it rained both at a café and at the Museum of Contemporary Art Café overlooking the opera house and the Circular Quay. After the rain stopped we boarded a ferry across the harbor to the town of Manly where we had a quick lunch of take-away fish and chips on the beach. Even though it had rained fairly heavily in the morning the sun was out and the beach was filled with sunbathers.  Not many Hotties! The beach at Manly is a beautiful white sand beach, which stretches for quite some distance. Thank you Olivier for spending time with us and sharing your life’s adventures.  We wish you the best!

After our return to Sydney Harbor via the ferry it was time to head back to the ship since our all-aboard time was 4:15. As is usual when we sail out of any port we have a sail-away party on the rear deck of the ship. Today was no exception except that there were three times as many people at the party. Everyone wanted to be on deck to see us sail under the Sydney harbor bridge, past the opera house and through the gorgeous harbor before making our way out to sea.  Kent quickly identified and engaged some new ship entertainers (Aussie Boys) on deck and some new faces from Canada, all of whom might make these next few days more interesting.

At our usual 7:00 PM “Friends of Dorothy” cocktail hour, one of our group introduced his “find” for the day in Sydney.  Yes, you guessed it:  a kangaroo scrotum pouch.  Very popular souvenir with the tourists to serve as jewelry bags.  The size of the pouch is about 3” by 4” and looks a lot like a fine piece of leather. The top of the pouch has had a drawstring added to keep those jewels from escaping. Some even have beads added to the drawstring for color. We plan to buy several for our special friends!  They are fabulous with or without fur!

The entertainment on this night was another flautist by the name of Simeon Wood. Most every flautist does a few of the same songs, which are difficult to do on the flute like “The Flight of the Bumble Bee”, but Simeon’s show was entertaining. He was better at engaging the audience and his songs were more familiar to people than the last flautist who performed.

Sydney Opera House

Our Friends Greg and Tony at the Gunner’s Barracks

Sydney Harbor

February 15, 2013  Sydney, Australia

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia with a population of over 4.2 million people. It is also the state capital of New South Wales and is located on the country’s southeast coast. Sydney was established in 1788 by Arthur Phillip who led the First Fleet from Britain. Sydney Harbor is the largest natural harbor in the world and is believed to have been populated by indigenous Australians for at least 30,000 years. At the time of the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, 4,000 to 8,000 Aboriginal people lived in the area and spoke three dialects. Several gold rushes, starting in 1851, brought waves of people arriving from around the world and the rapid suburban development that began in the last quarter of the 19^th century continues today, giving Sydney its cosmopolitan flair.

With its distinctive white “sails” and commanding position on the harbor, the Sydney Opera House is the most recognized landmark of urban Australia. Not far from the opera house is the landmark harbor bridge, built in 1932 and still to this day is the world’s widest long-span bridge. The top of the bridge stands 429 feet above the harbor. The adventurous have the opportunity to climb the bridge under careful supervision, both by day and by night. Next to the opera house is the beautiful Royal Botanical Gardens, first built in 1879 for the International Exhibition.

Our friends Greg and Tony (both retired from Qantas—Queens And Nymphomaniacs Traveling After Sex—Airlines), who live in Sydney, picked us up at the ship to spend some time catching up since our last visit to Sydney in 2007. Kent met Greg back in 1976 when he was working for the Air Canada and Greg worked for Qantas. We had coffee at a nearby row of converted wool storage warehouses along the harbor. Today these old warehouses have been converted to lofts, retail shops, restaurants and theaters.

We then headed north over the Sydney harbor bridge to “The Tea Room” at Gunner’s Barracks located at an old military installation that has been converted into a national park. The tea room is located on a hillside high above the harbor with incredible views across the harbor and to downtown Sydney. Located in an affluent neighborhood called Georges Heights, the lovely restaurant is frequented by local women (Ladies Who Lunch) enjoying a day of shopping and in need of a rest. It was a beautiful setting for a delightful lunch with friends. The food was impeccable in  taste, as well as presentation and the service was superb. Thanks boys for a wonderful time.

After lunch Greg and Tony dropped us off back in the city where we explored many malls, shopping arcades and did some people watching. In the evening we met friends for a special dinner with our past shipmates Stephen and Patrick from Boston. They had disembarked in Auckland, spent a week in Auckland and had recently flown to Sydney for a two-week stay.  They were able to get guest passes to re-board the ship for dinner with friends at the Canaletto restaurant. Everyone had a good time and enjoyed their visit.

There were a few new faces onboard the ship tonight. While we lost something like 130 passengers, about 200 new passengers boarded the ship today for the next leg of our journey.

Valentine’s Day in the Dining Room

Valentine’s Day Treats

February 14, 2013  Sea Day-Valentines Day

Under the rule of Emperor Claudius II, Rome was involved in many very unpopular campaigns. Understandably, “Claudius the Cruel” had a tough time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. He believed the reason was that Roman men did not want to leave their wives and families. As a result, Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. Saint Valentine was a priest in Rome at the time. He and Saint Marius aided the Christians by secretly marrying couples. For this kind deed Saint Valentine was apprehended and dragged before the Prefect of Rome who condemned him to death. He was martyred on February 14, about the year 270. Legend also says that Saint Valentine left a farewell note for the jailer’s daughter, who had become his friend. He signed it “From Your Valentine.”  Pope Galasius set aside February 14^th to honor St. Valentine. Gradually, February 14^th became the date for exchanging of love messages and St. Valentine became the patron saint of lovers. The date was marked by sending poems and simple gifts such as flowers.

Good Morning Amsterdam today interviewed the Hotel Director and his wife who is the Guest Relations officer. They actually got a divorce many years ago so that they could work on the same ship because the company policies at the time forbade it. Once the policy was changed to allow couples to work on the same ship they were married again and they have worked with Holland America for the past twenty years.

When we returned to our cabin we discovered that the cabin steward had not only cleaned the cabin and made the bed but he left Valentine Day surprises. We each received a beautiful oval gold box of chocolates and a small white teddy bear.

Bill Crews lecture today was titled: The Pacific War Comes to Sydney. Bill recounted the events of late May, 1942, when three Japanese midget submarines entered Sydney Harbor, inflicting considerable damage and loss of life. This caused great anxiety in the Sydney community. The circumstances were eerily similar to those of Pearl Harbor, where obvious breaches of security and warnings of doom were ignored or discounted.

In the afternoon we attended a wonderful singing and dance showcase titled: Love in the Afternoon. The Amsterdam singers and dancers performed a variety show of songs with love themes while Bruce, the cruise director, hosted the event and included many famous people’s thoughts and comments on love. It was a very entertaining show and the cast received another standing ovation.

It was another formal night, and being Valentines Day, we dressed up in our tuxedos with red bow ties and cumber bunds. The dining room was decked out with an incredible over the top amount of red and white Valentines Day decorations. Every chair was slip covered in white, the tablecloths were white with and red and white heart printed runner, red and white napkins, every table had several heart shaped Mylar balloons, and this was just the tables. The room had Valentine Day banners, red metallic streamers, hearts, balloons, and tons of hanging party decorations for the occasion.

After dinner there was a Valentines Day Ball in the Queen’s Lounge. The show lounge was decorated with just as many decorations as the dining room, with red and white, everywhere. They gave away a variety of prizes including one grand prize to the person who guessed the closest number of red confetti hearts that were in a champagne glass. The small fluted glass had over 10,000 confetti hearts and the man who came the closest to the correct number of hearts won a variety of merchandise including internet time, gift shop items and spa credit.

Lunches—So that Kent wouldn’t gain 100 pounds on this cruise, his doctor recommended he eat oatmeal and fruit in the dining room at breakfast; salad in the dining room at lunch, and most of his dinner at night.  Avoid the buffets and don’t eat the usual 3 deserts a meal.  So to make lunch more interesting, we invite people we see who are HOT! or look interesting, to have lunch with us on sea days.  This week we had lunch with Ana (81) who lives on Long Island and has a home on Fire Island  (the Pines) and in Ft Lauderdale.  She is a go-getter and takes photos, dances, takes tours and loves her Ipad.  We also invited Ingrid and Alec to lunch.  They live in separate states, but have been friends for years.  Not sure what their stories are, but will find out next time.  Soon we will invite Jenn (under 40) and her 83 year old aunt to lunch with us.  After that, Blair and Marie, whose grandfather started the BVD underwear company.  They are from Ottawa.  Marie is a fashion plate and enjoys a cookie or two with Kent.

Departures—Tomorrow Tom, from Lake Como, and Matthias and Alain from Stuttgart will disembark in Sydney.  We will miss their company!  Perhaps we will see them this summer when we head to Italy and Germany for a wedding.  However we are scheduled to get about 200 new passengers when we leave Sydney.

News—Thank God for CNN.  Their international news division has “balanced” news and special programs about interesting places around the world.  This keeps us somewhat informed about what is going on.  We also have the NY Times Digest which is an 8 page condensed daily newsletter with US news articles.  Kent reads it cover to cover to help stay current.  Fox has its own satellite and we could watch it for “variety,” but don’t…very often.

Mark’s Ladies—Since he is such a tall, handsome drink of water, most of the older ladies position themselves to say “hello” to Mark as we walk around the ship.  He is unaware this is happening.  As we meet people, they know Mark’s name, but don’t know mine and have to ask.  It is easy to invite people to lunch if they know Mark will attend.  Maybe it is his youth.  I’m feeling a little like “chopped liver” on the plate with caviar.  (I’ll get over it!  More chocolate!)

We’re so grateful we are not on Carnival’s Triumph!  That would be a much different experience than on the MS Amsterdam!

February 13, 2013  Sea Day

The speaker at this morning’s Good Morning Amsterdam show was Tom the techspert. Tom gives classes most every day on some type of computer related topic related to Windows products. There is a digital classroom onboard with about twenty workstations and computers.

Immigration officers are onboard to process both the crew and the passenger’s passports prior to our arrival into Sydney so we will be ready to go ashore as soon as we arrive. It is very organized with each passenger given a number of when to go to meet with the immigration officials. The process took about fifteen minutes to wait in line and get our passports stamped and we were ready for our arrival in Australia.

We attended a cooking class with Chef Kevin and the cruise hostess Adele in the culinary arts center where we learned how to make Australia’s famous meat pies. They are generally made as small snack like pies that you could put in a bag and have for lunch. They could be as simple as meat and gravy inside a pastry crust or they might have vegetables, chicken or curry flavors. Many of the shops in Australia might have a variety of a dozen or so different flavors to choose from.

In the afternoon we attended a lecture by Bill Crews on: The First Australians, where he discussed the origins, culture and nature of Australia’s Aborigines, the impact on them by the European settlers, and more.

For dinner we took Maureen, (the ship’s craft lady) and our friend Tom from Lake Como, Italy, to the specialty Italian restaurant called Canaletto for a farewell dinner.  Tom disembarks in Sydney for a months stay with friends in the Blue Mountains of Australia. Tom has an incredible wit and sense of humor about him and has been a joy to get to know. He is traveling alone as his partner of 45 years died a couple of years ago.

The show by the Amsterdam singers this evening was called “The Look of Love” in honor of Valentines Day tomorrow. It included a collection of songs by Burt Bacharach. The five Amsterdam singers did an excellent job and received a standing ovation.

February 12, 2013   Sea Day

It was a quiet sea day, which was a welcome treat after five busy days in ports. We had a leisurely breakfast in the dining room before the “Good Morning Amsterdam” show, followed by Barbara’s lecture on things to see and do in Sydney.

A new lecturer by the name of Bill Crews is onboard and presented a lecture today on Sealers and Whalers of Australasia. He discussed how the Europeans Sealers were the first settlers in New Zealand. He discussed the history of sealing and whaling in the region, the largest number being Americans. Most every part of the seals and whales were sold for a specific purpose including parts of the brain that were considered an aphrodisiac.

Prior to dinner we had the pleasure of being invited to our friend Joan’s veranda suite for cocktails, champagne, cheese and crackers prior to dinner. Her friend Judy, whom she met several years ago on another cruise, was there too.  They have remained good friends over many cruises. Joan is from New York and Judy is from Oregon.   When asked about why they like the lifestyle of world cruising, Joan said:  “I don’t have to cook or clean.  After a lovely dinner, I can see a show every night and can meet lots of new people and visit new places.  I just move into my “apartment” and I’m good for 4 months!”  That pretty much sums it up.

We shared dinner with our friends Alain and Matthias from Germany as they are disembarking in Sydney to continue on their yearlong journey of the world. We have enjoyed spending time with them and getting to know them better. The theme for dinner was a Mardi Gras theme and the dining room was extensively decorated in gold, green and purple napkins, metallic streamers, party favors and fabrics. The crew in the dining room did a great job of making it a festive atmosphere. Mardi Gras came to the United States through its French heritage in 1699. Mardi Gras means, “Fat Tuesday” and is celebrated on the Tuesday 47 days prior to Easter Sunday. This falls somewhere between February 3^rd and March 9^th depending on the lunar calendar, used to determine the date of Easter. The official colors of Mardi Gras are purple, green and gold. The King of Carnival, Rex, chose these colors in 1872. The color purple represents justice, green stands for faith and gold stands for power.

The quartet group called Black Tie put on another show in the Queen’s lounge this evening. The show was followed by a Mardi Gras party of dancing and drinking in the Crow’s nest bar….not really many live wires there…not much going on. We also gained another hour tonight as we continue traveling west.

Picton Harbor

Picton Market Dog Food

February 11, 2013  Picton, New Zealand

Picton is a small town of about 5,000 residents located at the head of the Queen Charlotte Sound on the northern end of the south island of New Zealand. During the summer months the population swells to about 15,000, as it is a popular place for locals to holiday and to have a second home. Nearby is the Marlborough region known for producing some of the world’s finest white wines, particularly the Sauvignon Blanc. There are 142 wineries in the Marlborough region. This region is known for its Greenshell Mussels which they export 65,000 tons of annually. The region also grows cherries and olives. The town itself is quite small with only a two block long shopping district. Here we explored the gift shops and outdoor handicraft market as well as walked some of the residential streets and a local park, along with the library for free wifi/internet.

While strolling through the supermarket I could not help but notice that they sell fresh dog food in the deli counter next to the milk and margarine. The dog food is packed in plastic wrapped logs in the shape of a fireplace log. They have great names for the dog food like Bruno, Wag, Butch, Bow Wow and Champ.

By mid afternoon we were back onboard the ship having a late lunch.

During our sail away party on the aft deck of the ship this afternoon we were treated to a school of dolphins that were playing in the water as we passed. There must have been at least twenty of them that were headed towards the ship as we were sailing out of the channel towards the open sea. They seemed to be wishing us safe travels as they jumped out of and frolicked in the water.

The entertainment this evening was a variety show with Jimmy Tamley the Ventriloquist and Kevin Jordan the Comedian. Neither of them had as good a show as their first performances.

As we say “farewell” to New Zealand, we have some observations.  First, the country is beautiful with many activities for outdoor enthusiasts.  The people are very friendly and are eager to chat, and the accent is fun to interpret.  The costs for all items seem to be very high.  We were amazed at the prices for food, clothes, homes, etc.   Overall, it seems like a nice place to live.  We had been here before and our impressions remain about the same.

View of Wellington from the Botanical Garden

Wellington Botanical Rose Garden

Wellington Botanical Garden

Wellington’s Largest Wooden Building

February 10, 2013  Wellington, New Zealand

Wellington is located at the southern most tip of the north island of New Zealand. It is also the southern most national capital in the world with latitude of 41degrees south. In 1865, Wellington became the capital of New Zealand, replacing Auckland, where William Hobson had established his capital in 1841. Parliament first sat in Wellington in July of 1862, but the city did not become the official capital for some time. In 1853, Premier Alfred Domett believed that if the capital was not moved to the Cook Strait that the southern regions where the gold fields were located would form a separate colony. Because of its southern location and its omnipresent winds through the Cook Strait, the city is known by locals as “Windy Wellington”.

The local tourism authority has provided a shuttle bus for us to take from the port into the heart of town today. It is a Sunday so many of the shops and businesses are closed. We did not have a tour scheduled so we set out on foot to explore the city on our own. Much of the area along the waterfront was reclaimed many years ago after an earthquake raised the level of the ground. This has created a marvelous seaport area, which is extremely nice. They have their civic square, library, Museum of Wellington, Te Papa Museum, a park and much outdoor public space along the waterfront. On this day they were having a farmer’s market where you could purchase not only fruits and vegetables but also a large variety of food and handicrafts were available. After exploring the waterfront area we headed up Cuba Street, which is a pedestrian only street lined with shops, restaurants and many street performers. This area is a bit more bohemian where the people look a bit hippie like. Many of the people look less well kept, have longer hair and the shops are a bit on the funky side. We stopped at a fish market on Cuba Street, which also served prepared food, for some local fish and chips.

After lunch we headed out along Lambton Quay, which was the waterfront street prior to an earthquake, but today it is several blocks inland from the bay. Along Lambton we found the more commercial office buildings, department stores as well as five shopping malls. The shops and the street here were beautifully maintained with colorful landscaped medians and beautiful facades on the buildings.

Along Lambton Quay we took the Wellington Cable Car, which was originally opened in 1902 to carry folks up the steep hillside to the plateau above. Originally a steam operated system, which was replaced with electricity in 1933 and finally replaced with a modern Swiss designed system in 1978. At the top of the cable car track you are greeted with fantastic views out over the city and bay of Wellington.

Once at the top of the hill we entered the Wellington Botanic Gardens, which is an enormous open parkland and is beautifully maintained and free for everyone to enjoy. The gardens were established in 1868 as part of a program to import plant species and assess their economic potential to the new colony. There is a very well marked path that we took down hill through the gardens back to the city. Along the way we passed the Lady Norwood Rose Garden, a begonia house, a tree house visitors center, a children’s play area and acre after acre of beautiful landscaped grounds.

At the lower end of the gardens is the Bolton Street Memorial Park, which was first established in 1840 as a cemetery. For 50 years, it was administered as three separate cemeteries; Church of England, Jewish and public. In 1892 it was closed except for new burials on existing family plots. Between 1968 and 1971 the cemetery was temporarily closed to the public while 3,700 bodies were exhumed to allow construction of the new urban motorway, which goes right through the old cemetery today. The remains were moved to a large vault and the headstones were relocated into the remaining cemetery lawns. Today it is very well maintained and a piece of history with all of the interesting headstones from the 1800’s.  Mark loves looking at cemeteries.

Once we arrived back in the port area we checked out Wellington’s government buildings including one they call the “Beehive” because of its unique beehive like shape. Wellington also is home to the second largest wooden structure in the world, which once served as the city’s government offices. Several interesting church’s including Old St. Paul’s and Wellington Cathedral were on our tour.  We had walked for almost eight hours.

Back onboard the ship there was a New Zealand Food and Wine festival poolside. Many varieties of seafood, lamb, cheese and other local dishes were being featured. Tonight’s entertainment was a quartet called “Black Tie”. Two brothers and their wives sang as well as played the piano and cello. It was a different act but not particularly fabulous.

Napier Cruise Terminal

View from Mt. Te Mata

Apple Trees at the Pernel Orchards

Pear Trees at the Pernel Orchards

February 9, 2013  Napier, New Zealand

Napier is located in Hawke’s Bay and is a popular tourist city and has one of the most photographed tourist attractions in the country, a statue on the waterfront called Pania of the reef. This area attraction is regarded in the same way by the locals, that the Little Mermaid statue is regarded in Copenhagen. Napier was named after Sir Charles Napier, a British war hero. On February 3, 1931 the city was leveled by a 7.9 magnitude earthquake, which killed 258 people. Since Art Deco was popular at the time of the earthquake many of the reconstructed buildings were re-built in this style.  Napier and Miami, Florida are considered two of the best- preserved Art Deco towns in the world. Every February the area attracts thousands for their Art Deco event celebrating Napier’s Art Deco heritage and history.

This fertile delta between the Ngaruroro and Tuki Rivers has rich soil and a Mediterranean climate. Hawke’s Bay has more than 20 small vineyards and produces many award winning wines. Missionaries planted the first New Zealand grapes for sacramental wine back in 1838.

We took a short tour of the area. We were taken to a panoramic summit called Te Mata Peak Lookout where we saw beautiful views of orchards, gardens, vineyards, rivers, towns and the coast. We then headed to the nearby town of Hastings often referred to as the “fruit bowl of New Zealand” because of the large amount of fruit grown in the region. We stopped at the Pernel Orchard for a tour of the orchards and a sampling of the fresh fruits. They were picking apple and pear trees which were just loaded down with beautiful fruit. The orchard also has a paddock with some sheep for the children to see up close.

Our next stop, was at Silky Oak Chocolates, where we saw the chocolate making process and were able to sample some handmade chocolate. We also visited a small museum called “Chocolate Through the Ages” which detailed the history of chocolate from the Aztec times to the present day.

Our tour wrapped up with a driving tour along Tennyson Street for a look at Napier’s art deco architecture. On this day there was a bagpipe competition so the towns park was filled with kilt wearing men with bagpipes. Next weekend they will have their annual art deco festival in conjunction with the anniversary of the 1931 earthquake. People come from around the world dressed in period clothing to participate in wine and food festivals and lots of entertainment.

The weather was perfect with the temperature in the high 70’s and a clear blue sky.

The nightly entertainment was a ventriloquist by the name of Jimmy Tamley who was very talented. He had a grandfather figure, a parrot and a baby as his props when he was not using audience members as his dummies.

Beach and Bay at Mt. Maunganui-Tauranga

Kiwi House

Tauranga Landscape

February 8, 2013  Tauranga, New Zealand

Tauranga is the western part of the Bay of Plenty, which extends from Katikati and Waihi Beach to Papamoa and Te Puke on the coast and south to the Kaimai ranges. Captain Cook saled into the Bay of Plenty on the Endeavor in 1769, giving it it’s name, because of the number of thriving settlements of friendly Maori people and the amount of supplies that they gave him. Tauranga enjoys the greatest number of sunny days in all of New Zealand. It is also one of the largest ports in New Zealand, exporting produce from the rich surrounding as well as logs, woodchips, and timber products. It is a very desirable area for retirees attracted by the temperate climate and modern facilities.

We were docked at the small town of Mt. Maunganui, which means “Big Hill” and refers to the adjacent hill formed by a volcano, which is about 750 feet tall. The hill has a popular trail around the base, which then leads you gradually up the hill to the top for a beautiful view of the surrounding harbor.

Our tour today took us to the famous Waitomo glow-worm caves, which is about a two-hour drive from the port. The caves were discovered by the Maori in the late 1800’s and they have been giving tours of the caves ever since. A portion of the tour is on foot where you see stalactites and stalagmites, but the most impressive glow-worms are seen from a boat on the river. Once you have descended into the caves you are loaded into a small boat that holds about twenty people for a short ride through a couple of caves where the majority of the greenish bioluminescent worms are hanging from the ceiling of the cave. The worms have a very short lifespan of only a few days but are quite unique and a sight to see.  Some of our companions thought the caves looked “Disneyish” and others thought the glow came from LED lights!

We also visited the Otorohanga Kiwi House where we were able to see the national bird of New Zealand, the Kiwi. The Kiwi is a flightless bird belonging to the ratite order of birds, which includes such creatures as the Emu. The Kiwi is a nocturnal, tailless bird with loosely attached feathers giving it a shaggy appearance. Its nostrils are located at the tip of a long bill giving it a great sense of smell. They also have excellent hearing and eyesight and have cat-like whiskers. They eat mostly beetles, caterpillars, cicadas and spiders as well as berries. The Kiwi nest in burrows where the female lays one or two very large eggs over a period of a couple of weeks. The eggs are about one-fifth of the female’s body weight. The male incubates the eggs over a period of 72 to 84 days when the chick emerges from the shell wearing its shaggy adult plumage. The chick remains in the burrow for six to seven days without food or water. The yolk sac remains attached to the chick at birth and provides nourishment until the chick can venture out of the burrow to eat. During this time the chick will have lost 25% of its body weight. Once feeding commences, it will take 10-15 days for the chick to regain its birth weight. The Kiwi is nearly extinct from a host of introduced predators like cats.

We then headed to the Waikato dairy region where we enjoyed a delicious lunch at the private home of a dairy farmer. Lunch included roasted lamb, meatloaf, potatoes, deviled eggs, green salad, beets, and a dessert of vanilla ice cream with fresh fruit in syrup.

Tonight’s entertainment was a comedian by the name of Kevin Jordan who is a former LA police officer. He used his powerful police officer flashlight to see and interact with the audience. He was very funny and different.