Ah, well, so much has happened since I last wrote/ The primary one being that we had to disembark the boat and I am currently writing from my wonderful hotel room on the wharf in Auckland/ One thing that hasn’t changed – the period key is still not working/
But, let’s go back to happier times when we were in Wellington and Napier and Tauranga and Waiheke Island/ Oh boy – I am really behind!
Wellington is the capital of New Zealand and it was a nice, clean, walkable city/ We didn’t have an excursion booked here so our plan was to 1) drink local coffee 2) walk around 3) eat local food We were able to achieve all these things!
The shuttle bus dropped us downtown in the heart of the central business district at the good old I site/ We hopped off and started randomly walking/ We’ve been trying to determine something – so they drive on the other side of the road, of course, but do they also walk on the other side of the sidewalk? Back home, you stay right/ We’re starting to think they stay left, but it is harder to tell in a crowd where people act like wildebeests and do whatever they want/
We ended up at the harborfront and found a great little coffee shop/ Now, they have some different names for coffee drinks here/ I’ve heard them thrown around but don’t know what they mean/ For example, there is a “flat white”/ I mean, what is that? Anyway, I asked for a small coffee with steamed milk/ Jason got the same/ What we ended up with was a cup of black coffee/ Ok, whatever/ The good news is that their coffee is so darn good we didn’t care and I NEVER drink my coffee black / It was so rich and full of flavor without any bitterness or harshness/ Perfection/
The waterfront area was fantastic – again, very clean, architecturally really interesting/ Lots and lots of open spaces to sit in/ No bums or sketchy people lurking about/ Everywhere we went, the locals were talking about the weather/ It was sunny and warm and this is unusual there! They were out in force to enjoy the sunshine/ Of course, it is spring here so likely it is one of the first really warm days of the year and those always feel so good/
We found the local, free museum and decided to walk through it/ SO glad we did! It was exceptionally well done – a combination of things to read, watch, touch, do – great for adults and kids alike/ We learned a lot of the local history, including a fascinating story of a powerful storm that sank a large ferry boat in the bay/ The winds were blowing 100 mph that day! The boat was so leaned over to one side that they were unable to lower the lifeboats/ Even though they were not far from shore, hundred died because they couldn’t get free from the boat or make their way to shore because of the winds/ Yikes!
We found a restaurant on the docks (aptly called Dockside) where we had a bowl of seafood chowder for lunch/ It was crazy good and we sat there enjoying the views, the meal and our wine/ Our waitress was a super cute French lady who warmed right up to us and gave us a lot of tips for things to do in the rest of our journey/
A note on the wine – so Rod had told us a story about a journalist he follows back home who always writes an end of year article on his favorite wines that year/ Regularly, a wine called Dog Point from New Zealand makes the list/ Rod mentioned wanting to try it because he’s heard so much about it and because it was actually pretty reasonably priced/ There it was on the Dockside menu – an oaked sauvignon blanc! (Who knew there was such a thing) So, I got that and it was SO good/ The waitress recommended the Man o War shiraz for Jason because of his love of big, bold reds – he loved it! She told us we should visit the winery and we had already planned to go to Waiheke Island (where the winery is) so we agreed it was a must/ She recommended another one and we wrote it down, too/ Bam! I love a good recommendation/
The next day, we woke up to Napier in Hawke’s Bay/ We had an excursion booked and were hoping it would be another very small van/ Wish granted!
Napier is the art deco capital of the world, which meant precisely absolutely nothing to be prior to arriving/ Mostly because I’m completely ignorant about things like that, not because I’m a jerk/ Well, after touring the town, I love art deco! To me it is such a fun throw back to another era of class and style/ After their BIG earthquake, they took great pains to repair and restore the town in the art deco style/
The earthquake completely reshaped the town/ And I mean completely/ The ocean rose up more than 6 feet in some places – an area that was previously covered with water became a neighborhood! They gained hundreds if not thousands of acres of beachfront/ There is now a lovely area called the sunken gardens which used to be part of the ocean/ Crazy!
One totally awesome thing – there is a large park on the water front made just for kids to learn traffic signals and signs! They can walk, bike, scooter – whatever/ Working traffic lights and the whole enchilada/ How cute is this??? The kids go crazy for it and their parents can get a coffee and sit beachside nearby while they safely play and learn/
Our tour guide, Maggie, was the bomb! She took us to her house!!! What a gem/ It was neat to see a local house and garden and to check out her astonishing collection of tea cups and china/
After touring the town and her house, we visited the oldest winery in NZ (Mission) and one down the road Church St – both were really gorgeous/ On the way home, we stopped at Speights, a famous local brewery and cider house/ We got to try a few things and they brought us a ton of fresh cooked “chips” to enjoy/
We caught up with the crew that night at the final cellar master dinner/ Fun to go out and do different things during the day and be able to catch up again in the evening and swap adventure stories/
So, fresh off the insane Judgement of Paris dinner, everyone was somewhat determined to take it a bit easier this time and not drink 12+ glasses of wine (mercy)/ JoJo had another wonderful meal planned for us and we enjoyed the pairings/
We were seated with Rod and Louise, Karen, and a couple from Toronto named Usha and Noel/ Poor Noel went to look at the stars one night and fell on his balcony, breaking his leg/ Usha somehow managed to drag him back into their cabin by herself! Anyway, poor guy/ They had to go into the hospital and get him cast and comfortable/
I’m quite sure had we not needed to get up early to go kayaking, we would have again closed the place down laughing, but we did indeed have to get up early to go kayaking!
Tauranga! We woke up to an overcast day but I didn’t care – I’d been waiting for this day! Kayaking to the glow worm caves! Now, in my 41 years, I’ve done a lot of canoeing and kayaking, so I had a pretty good idea of what the day would be like/ I was, of course, completely wrong/
First, this was a cruise ship excursion so it was a larger group – there were 30 of us/ There certainly weren’t any really old people on the tour and that is a very good thing/ As we began to get situated into the 2 person kayaks, it started to drizzle/ Thus began the rain that lasted the entire time, save about 15 minutes, that we were on the water/ Sometimes it was a drizzle and sometimes it was a driving rain/ Wearing contacts is not awesome in these instances/
Anyway, the rain didn’t bother us all that much except that it certainly made it a bit chilly and the lake got pretty choppy during the hardest downpour/ Otherwise, or in spite of, everyone stayed happy and upbeat/ YAY!
We split our group into 2, one group of 10 with one guide and a group of 20 with 2 guides/ We were in the group of 20 and headed first to the glow worm caves/ Despite both of us wanting to hang back and be last, we were almost always towards the front of the pack/ This is a good time to point out again how wrong I was about what the day would be like/
Growing up, float trips were leisurely and even paced/ All about the journey and the fun along the way/ You explored the many sand bars and caves and cliffs/ Stopping often to swim or drink a coke/ This however was more like loading up for battle and paddling like you’d taken speed with your breakfast until you felt your arms would fall off while trying to see through the rain and not lose the grip on the paddle/ Near the end of the 4-5 hours, we took turns crying out, “why?” and feigning death when we went around a corner and found we still weren’t back in the cove where we began/ It was all I good fun and we laughed our way through it, as always, but good grief was it intense! The guide was way out ahead and we just tried to hang in there/ You ain’t in the US anymore;) (WOOHOO!) Cause the truth is, we could and did hang in there/ And it was incredible and amazing and hard and worth it/
But back to the glow worm caves/
So, only about 4 kayaks could fit into the first opening at once/ Our guide, Hobbit, was standing in the water talking us through it/ We were kayak #4/ One by one, Hobbit would push a kayak into a tiny, narrow secondary opening where just the 2 of you could see the most glow worms/ Not for the claustrophobic, for sure/ I was in the front and had to lean back and stay still so my face didn’t touch the cave/ we couldn’t have kept drifting forward because it was too narrow, so that wasn’t a worry/ It was more not being able to control wanting to get out if I did/ Thankfully, I felt ok the whole time/ The glow worms were awesome! It was like being surrounded by the stars – but only about 1 foot from your face!
As we each took a turn, we’d be pulled out of the cave and sit out in the lake waiting for the rest/ It took a bit but it was a nice, calm, quiet place to sit and enjoy the lake and the views (and the rain)/
After, we set off in a mad paddle across the lake which was, by my calculations, about 9340 miles wide, to some geothermal pools/ Ahhhhh – we got to sit and soak in the glorious hot water for about an hour/ I didn’t realize just how cold I was until I stepped into that bath/ The place was awesome – there were several “baths” and the higher up you went, the hotter the water/ I stayed in one of the bottom baths and it was plenty hot/ Well, somewhere in there, Jason and I tried a higher level bath and my skin actually melted off/
After a good long soak and some lunch, we loaded up for the strenuous paddle back/ Man did it feel good when we got there!
So, there were about 10 people in our group who suddenly decided that morning that they really wanted to do 2 excursions that day and set about trying to find a way to get our bus driver/guide to take them over to the other one on the way home/ We sat listening to this and thought – oh man, this is going to be interesting/
What our most awesome guide did was offer to call and try to arrange a private van to take them from the kayak drop to the Hell’s Gate entrance and then, eventually, back to the cruise ship/ Very nice of him/ And, we were glad that we weren’t going to get caught up in their hairbrained scheme and get stuck on the bus in soaking wet clothing while they did whatever/
That said, we get all loaded up to head back and their van hasn’t arrived/ Hmmm/ Now we’re stuck waiting/ After about 10 minutes, our guide decides to take us back (about 45 minutes) and he left the van company # and details with the other guide and the 10 passengers/ We’re about half way back when his cell phone rings/ Guess who and guess what? No van showed up/
We went on ahead as we had to get back by the all aboard time and they’d all signed a release saying they would find their own way back to the cruise ship/ I don’t know what ended up happening with them, but what I do know is we never saw any of them again! Did they get back on the boat? Who knows!
And so, with that in the books, we only had 2 days left on ship – an overnight in Auckland and then disembarkation/ So hard to believe!!!
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