Day Nineteen – At Sea

Today is the first of two sea days returning into Sydney. Although there’s a  swell on the sea the weather is sunny but a little windy. I thought that these quiet days will give a chance to reflect on the trip so far, with today my thoughts on New Zealand.

Rugged mountains, rolling hills ,terrific beaches, a great culture and modern big cities probably sums up what we have seen. The scenery on both islands was stunningly beautiful , from the fjords, plains and mountains in the South to the islands and volcanoes in the North. The people were some of the friendliest that I have meet in my travels with everyone being polite and helpful wherever we went. They are proud of their culture both ancient and modern,with a fervour about rugby almost as much as the Welsh. I would recommend it as a holiday destination as there is something for everyone here. It is difficult to pick out one highlight as all the places were great to visit. The weather in Auckland meant that we did not see that city at it’s best but meeting up with Sally & Barry more than made up for it.

Cruising only ever gives a snapshot of a place as the ship is usually in harbour for  about 10-12 hours at a time, but from what we have seen on this trip we would certainly come back. Next time we would travel by road to see more of the interior and probably stay for longer. I just need my lottery numbers to come up!!

It’s been quiet on board with only trivia and table tennis taking up our time (apart from eating of course).  We won both trivia games in the day but didn’t take part in the evening because we wanted to give some other teams a chance!!! We have formed a team with our dinner table and the combination of British and American brains seems to work. Unfortunately both sets of prizes were photo albums so we gave the second set away.

Tonight was the last formal dinner of the trip, the highlight once again being Larry’s tales. The guy has lead a rich life with my favourite story tonight being about President Carter( to whom he is distantly related). Larry was waiting to take a photo of the then President and decided to ask the secret service agent, “Where’s the best place to get a shot at the President?” How he failed to get arrested I don’t know. Going to dinner has been a pleasure ever since we got the table sorted. After writing this we are off to the theatre to once again see “The Piano Man”. We have seen it three times previously on Princess, so it will be good to compare. And finally ………

…….my favourite mammal, a bat. This is the guy responsible for all the animals featured in this trip. His name is Benny and he comes from the Philippines. Thank you  Benny for all your efforts. Tomorrow I will give my review of the ship.