Australia/NZ bucket list trip 2023

 Monday, January 1, 2024 Today was our last port of call for the cruise - Port Chalmers/Dunedin, near the southern tip of New Zealand's south island.  We began our entry into the port around 9 a.m. and were docked sometime after 10 a.m.  This was the only port of call that I didn't book any excursions for.  The big attraction is actually the city of Dunedin which is about 10 miles from the port and features some lovely victorian homes and a castle - Larchmont Castle.  Instead, Carl and I decided to just get off the ship this afternoon and walk into/around Port Chalmers.  Being New Year's Day, quite a few of the shops in town weren't open.  It really is just a little port town.  But it was fun to walk around.  The views were very pretty.  This day also started out like in Picton, with sort of gray skies and very cool winds.   Coming into Port Chalmers  - view from the Majestic Approaching Port Chalmers - as seen from Deck 1...

 January 1, 2024 I am writing this blogpost on Jan 1, 2024, but it's all about our fabulous New Year's Eve yesterday aboard the Majestic Princess on an at-sea day.  I'm happy to report we had no more medical emergencies requiring evacuating any passengers! We had the 2nd of our two specialty dining dinners last night at "The Catch" by Rudi on Deck 7 midship.  It's a wonderful fresh seafood restaurant. The Catch by Rudi Dinner was early at 5:30 p.m. and the restaurant is open to the Piazza below that starts on Deck 5.  Because it was New Year's Eve, there was New Year's Eve headwear handed out as we entered the restaurant and the chef, Rudi, was offering every diner a complimentary glass of champagne.  We both also ordered a champagne cocktail from the bar that had a slice of apple floated in it. The dinner presentation (all the courses) was elegant!  I had a giant shrimp cocktail on ice, served in an octopus-shaped silver bowl holder and Carl had the s...

 Sunday, December 31, 2023 Last day of the old year and here we are on an at-sea day - and our last formal evening for the cruise.  Looking forward to coming down to the piazza later tonight for a New Year's celebration! In the meantime, just wanted to post a couple of pictures of our afternoon indulgence today - some yummy ice cream sundaes from the Swirls ice cream counter on Deck 16.  We had to pay for these but boy, were they worth it! The DaVinci and Godfather Sundaes! Carl with the Godfather Sundae Anne (sunburnt) with DaVinci Sundae! That's all for this post - just us and ice cream!

 Sunday, December 31, 2023 Yesterday (Dec. 30) we docked in Picton.  A little geography lesson first before I talk about the day. New Zealand consists of two islands - the North Island (where Auckland and Wellington are) and the South Island (where Picton, Christ Church, and Chalmers/Dunedin are located),  On Dec. 29, we were in Wellington which is at the southern tip of the North Island.  Picton, which we visited yesterday is at the northern tip of the South Island, nestled in among a whole series of inlets and sounds. An inlet, for those who might not know, is a narrow winding channel of water that leads from the open ocean into a larger body of water, such as a bay or sound.  A sound is a large, more sheltered body of water that is surrounded by land on three sides. Picton itself is located at the bottom of Charlotte Sound.  It got its English name from Capt. (James) Cook the 18th century (1700's) explorer who petitioned the English King to name it after...

 Friday, December 29, 2023 The title for this blogpost is a quote from the wizard, Gandalf in Lord of the Rings.  It's one of Carl's favorite quotes, since he is something of a wanderer on his bike and in hiking the mountains near Shippensburg. And we did a bit of wandering today! Today was our long-awaited Lord of the Rings tour including a visit to the WETA studios in Wellington, as well as a visit to some of the sites used in filming the first LOTR movie.  We had a fabulous guide by the name of "Wai Wai" who actually looks a little bit like Peter Jackson!  He was a hoot!  Very entertaining with lots of behind-the-scenes stories of what went on during filming. I think he said he did some technical work on the LOTR films and actually got to be in the "Hobbit" movies (the 2nd triology). We had two bubbly 20-something ladies (Melissa and Becky) giving us the 50-60 minute tour in the WETA workshop showing us the intricacies of making objects/weapons using mold...

Thursday, December 28, 2023 OK - Not a very original title for my post, but December 28 (I'm writing this on December 29) was an at-sea day aboard the Majestic Princess as we cruised the coastline of New Zealand enroute to our next port of call - Wellington (the capital of New Zealand). We had a lovely, relaxed day aboard ship.  We went down to the Allegro dining room for breakfast and then  aftewards, headed up to the Hollywood Pool & Conservatory on Deck 17 for pool & hot tub time.  Both were SO nice.  Entire time was nice until we got the family with the screaming girl who threw a temper tantrum over who knows what.  Took WAY too long for parents to finally remove her from the pool area!  Don't get me wrong, I love children, but I love parents who actually parent their children (which includes disciplining them when needed). At lunch time we wandered down to the Piazza and each got a cheeseburger pot pie (sounded better than it tasted), some appl...

 Wednesday, December 27, 2023 morning we docked in Tauranga, NZ and our excursion for today was a M'aori Cultural Experience.  We came into port just before 10 a.m. and really, the views were spectacular! The waters are a beautiful blue and that little island rising up out of the harbor is just SO New Zealand. Smaller cruise ship next to us in port at Tauranga Island rising out of the harbor at Tauranga I got up early this morning to do a couple of loads of laundry before anything else.  Carl and I talked about this last night and figured it would be better to do some laundry today, rather than waiting for our at sea day tomorrow when everyone else is likely to want to do laundry.  Both loads were done & dried just after 8:30 a.m.  and by the time we wandered up to the Marketplace on Deck 16 for a late breakfast, it seems that everyone else had the same idea today.  It was WAY too crowded and we had trouble finding a table.  Carl finally found us a...

 Tuesday, December 26, 2023 Land ho!  We arrived at our first port of call in New Zealand this morning - Auckland.  Carl & both had a rough night last night with my cold (sorry about that, Carl) and were up just after 6:30 a.m.  It was a foggy, drizzly morning here in port - didn't bode well for our adventure to Waiheke Island for wine tasting. We dashed up to the Marketplace on Deck 16 for a quick breakfast and then we reported to the Symphony Dining room on Deck 5 to leave for our wine tasting tour.  We got off the ship around 8:30 a.m. and headed to the Fullers360 Ferry to Waiheke Island, about a 40 min (or less) boat ride away.  It was still drizzly and gray when we got there, but the island is really lush and beautiful. I kept seeing these really unusual trees with blooms that looked like red fuzz balls.  I finally asked someone what they were and they said these are Pohutukawa, otherwise known as New Zealand Christmas Trees.  Very pretty...