Moorea, Monday 22 nd April

Hot and muggy today. A short tender ride to this lovely little island. No plans today, as we have been here twice before. Took a taxi ride to their "town ". Checked out the shops, bought an Ice block, then returned to the dock, and tendered back to the ship. We then spent the afternoon on deck with the views of the island as a back drop. Sail away was great, having secured seats at the railing of deck 14.

Tahiti Sunday 21st April.

Today we are at Papette, Tahiti. Hot and muggy. We walked for about 1.5 hours thru the quiet streets of Papette. Easter Sunday meant most of the locals were attending church, we passed a few of the churches while walking. We walked the dock area again once the sun went down,  then sat on deck 14 watching and listening to the local activities on the dock area. There were food vendors and entertainment.

Auckland 16th April

Another lovely weather day. Our plans took us to Mt Eden by local bus. The challenge then was to climb this mountain. We did it and the views were worth the effort. We rewarded ourselves with an Ice cream upon our descent. Reboarding was a simple task, we had been given new cards and other than having new pics taken for the card we just walked on the ship. 

5 sea days now. One of those is an extra Thursday 18th.

April 15th, Tauranga

The ship docks at Mt Maunganui, a lovely little town named after the  local Mountain. We spent the morning walking the along the beach front and thru the local streets. The weather was perfect.

All Aboard

Friday 5th April.

We caught our plane to Melbourne where Lyn and Naz were waiting for us having arrived on an earlier flight. We shared a maxi cab to the dock and boarded immediately and set off to find Mick and Marlene who were already on the ship.
Now the fun was to begin, 6 old mates travelling together, what a hoot.
We had lunch together and then explored the ship. 


Saturday 6th April

Sea Day, seas are calm. 
Tonight was thee Champagne Waterfall, the Beer and Bubbly were flowing freely, more that on any other cruise we have been on.

Sunday 7th April.

Sea Day
Our last day before Sydney, 
Lots of fun and laughter, sad we have to say goodbye to our mates.

2nd Cruise....Sydney to Auckland

Monday 8th April

We had to debark by 9.30 am, our Cruise buddies that we met on out 2016 African cruise, caught a train in to meet up with us. We had coffee and lunch, It is fabulous to have cruise friends scattered around the globe.
Our 4pm sailaway was delayed because of harbour traffic, but that is a bonus. By the time we left at 7 pm, it was dark and the bridge and the Harbour was all lit up, making for a spectacular departure.

Tuesday 9th April

Sea Day, weather rough

Formal Night and Champagne Waterfall tonight.
I attended Knitters and Knatters in Skywalkers on deck 17.  A lovely lady named Sue is teaching any takers how to knit a Koala. 

Lunch was long, we had to add an hour to our clocks at 1pm.
No beer at all served for this Champagne waterfall function. Tony was not happy.

Wednesday 10th April

Sea Day, weather rougher
  
Back to Skywalkers for another knit lesson today, but I needed a tablet for the motion sickness. My Koala is progressing nicely.
The weather is nippy so the trackpants have been brought out.

Thursday, 11th April

Fjordlands, Temperatures low, overcast skies.

We were lucky enough to yet again get into all  the Sounds. We have been very lucky to be able to say hat in four cruises to this area we have managed to see the Sounds each time. Many miss out due to the weather conditions.

Friday, 12th April.

Port Charmers, for Dunedin. Cold, Wet and overcast.

We set off to catch a locall bus to Dunedin. $6 pp one way compared $15 pp one way on the ships shuttle ($20 pp for return)

Once in Dunedin we made our way to the Train Station, to buy tickets for the Seasider Train trip for $60 NZ pp. We have done the Tairei Gorge Train trip twice before so we decided on a shorter trip along the coast.. It was a pleasant journey, that would have been great on a sunny day. The train stops at Port Charmers on its return journey so we alighted and walked back to the ship.

Saturday, 13th April

Akaroa beautiful day, sun is out, skies are blue with a cold breeze.
  
Today was a tender port, we did not rush to leave the ship, so we did not have to wait long to get a tender. We walked to the other side of town which we have missed on previous visits. There were many heritage buildings to see.