Bay of Islands & Auckland, New Zealand

I am absolutely, 100% in love with New Zealand! Honestly, the ship could leave me behind and I would be perfectly happy to stay here forever – at least until the GNWT stopped paying me! Saturday was a wonderful day. We arrived in the Bay of Islands early in the morning and were accompanied into the harbour by some dolphins. Mum and I decided to take different tours, so she headed off at 9:00 to visit a Kauri forest and then trek through a glow worm grotto, finishing up with a hike up and down a big hill and through the woods. She came back raving about the tour, and she even managed to take some pretty decent photos which is a minor miracle considering her hatred of all things technological! I stayed onboard for the morning and enjoyed some time by myself. Good thing too, because that meant that I didn't get caught in the huge downpour that so many other passengers were soaked in! After lunch I caught the tender to shore and joined my group for a ride on a catamaran out to the “Hole in the Rock”. The rain clouds had moved on by that point and we had a wonderful cruise around some of the islands in the bay and then out to the rock. Unfortunately it was too rough to actually go through the hole, but we sailed right up beside it and I got some great pictures. We then sailed back into the bay and stopped on one of the islands where we were given time to explore. I found some lovely shells on the beach and waded out into the beautiful blue water, enjoying the sunshine. Then it was back onboard and we sailed back to town where we caught our tender back to the ship. This has been my favourite day so far – no offence mum!

Sunday we arrived in Auckland after a very rough night at sea. We were awakened in the middle of the night as our drink tray went crashing off the desk, smashing one of the glasses all over the floor, so it was a bit of a restless night. Our tour left at 8:00 and this time we were off to the Waitomo Glow Worm Cave. It was so cool! The cave was huge, and we climbed way down into the ground. After touring the caves we arrived at the underground river where we climbed into boats and went through the Glow Worm Grotto, where the only light is from the glow worms. It was unbelievable - truly worth the 2.5 hour drive from Auckland. After we climbed back up to our bus our driver took us to a nearby farm in Otorohanga for lunch, which was absolutely delicious. The house was surrounded by a beautiful garden which we strolled through after the meal. Then it was off to the Otorohanga Kiwi House and Native Bird Park to view the protected kiwi bird, which is nocturnal and tailless – and quite strange looking! They also had geckos, falcons, owls, ducks, harriers, wekas, kingfishers and other birds. We then drove back to Auckland and to the ship, and the scenery was gorgeous. Before we set sail the captain informed us that the route we were supposed to take to Picton was going to be really rough, so he was going to backtrack to Bay of Islands and come down the other side of New Zealand, but that we should still arrive in Picton on time. Sunday night they were showing South Pacific in the Cabaret Lounge, and even though we were both tired we had promised we would go, so we did. I had never seen it before, and I loved it – the only downside is that I haven't been able to get the songs out of my head since then! I wonder how long it will take me to be free from the soundtrack!