Saturday 21^st March 2015 – Day exploring New Zealand with Stuart & Diane.

We set off at 8-30am and before leaving Ohura drove to their golf club (and actually across the fairways, so we could see the lie of the land!)

Today we stayed on tarmac roads and went eastwards to Lake Taupo - stopping only to take photos of more stunning scenery as we went. Stuart decided to drive up the east coast of the lake as it is more picturesque. We stopped in Taupo itself for lunch. It was a lovely spot – but the service was terrible and the food mediocre – we won’t be going there again!!

We then headed north on State Highways 1 and 27 (to avoid Hamilton again). It was very different scenery to yesterday – much more “managed” farming and actually quite like the UK. It was still an amazing drive and we’re both really grateful to Stuart & Diane for putting themselves out like this to show us their lovely home and give us a taste of the real New Zealand.

We made it back to their second hotel in Auckland (they are going home on Sunday) and had time to have a couple of drinks with them before there were hugs and tears as we boarded the shuttle and made our way back to the ship by 7pm.

Jerry, our cabin steward, welcomed us back – even if he did seem a little put out that we hadn’t told him we were going away!

We had a quick bite to eat in the Kings Court, surrounded by even more “newbies”, decided that the “entertainment” wasn’t for us so went and had an early night. It had been an exhausting two days…

 

Sunday 22^nd March 2015 – Bay of Islands, New Zealand.

If we hadn’t been spoiled by the previous couple of days, we’re sure we would have found the beautiful scenery and the rather regimented ship’s tour excellent. As it was, it all seemed a bit rushed and “touristy”

The Waitangi Treaty Grounds was where the official treaty welcoming New Zealand into the British Empire was signed in 1840. It is a very important site for the Maoris, who make up the majority of the population here, and our guide was entertaining but it was only a five minute walk from the quay that the ship’s tenders were using and it probably took longer to get the passengers on and off the coach than it would for us to walk there.

There were other photo stops, and the tour did last about three hours, but once it had finished we made our way into the little town of Parhia and looked around at our own speed. We had lunch there and watched the world go by as the locals came out to fleece (sorry, serve) the tourists.

Back on board we decided to stand at the back of the theatre to see what Danny Elliott’s Musical Extravaganza was like… Danny is billed as “Australia’s premier multi-instrumental and vocal entertainer”. Well, he played “Rock around the Clock” on the bagpipes told a few unfunny jokes and then played Ravel’s “Bolero” on the mouth organ!! Not being able to take any more excitement, we left and went for a nightcap…