#176 Nomad Diary. 2 March- 8 March 2024. Royal Princess Cruise Begins in Auckland. Tauranga. Wellington. Dunedin. Fjordland. And Sea Days.

Owen and Esther, Our Two Grands in Alabama on a Call Waking From Their Naps

Having Proper Tea in Auckland

On a Call with Grand Quinn Looking at His Mom Saturday. 2. Today we check out of our Auckland hotel and board the Royal Princess ship headed for Sydney through 14 days of New Zealand stops,Tasmania and Australian stops, and sea days too. We left our hotel around 11am and headed with our rolling luggage downhill to the port. We were able to drop off our luggage among the crowd doing the same. Then we wandered around the downtown area for the next several hours. We had tea and we had lunch. We talked to each of our grandchildren by video calls. It was a lovely day. The line to get on the ship was slow-going and took us two attempts and standing finally for about 45 minutes to get through all the hoops and on the ship. We found our interior room and unpacked, did our safety requirement and I rested before dinner. It was a nice sail away and we are glad to unpack for a full two week stay! I’m also looking forward to revisiting ports where we have visited recently as tourists on our road trip.

View of Port Near Tauranga From the Ship

View From the Ship Near Tauranga and Mt Maunganui

This Couple, Marion and Gary King, From Church Took Us To the Mall For Lunch Then Back to Our Ship Sunday. 3. Today we took a Uber to church. We arrived early and walked back to a coffee shop to spend a few minutes before class began. It was raining and we wore coats. After the meeting one of the couples offered to take us back to the port and to stop for lunch at a mall food court on the way. We were able to enjoy finding out about them during our couple of hours together. Marion and Gary were from Tauranga. Marion grew up in the church beginning in Holland where her parents immigrated from when she was 3 years old. Gary had a bit longer family history, but came into the church because of Marion and her parents. They were very kind and enjoyed talking about their daughters and their friends they have visited in the US. We hope to see them again when our cruise in April stops at this port on a Sunday. While at the church, there was another couple from our cruise ship who we met. It was Paul and Anie from Singapore. We exchanged contact information and promised to connect back on the ship. In the afternoon around 4pm the sun finally came out. I went for an hour walk off the ship and along the coastal beach port.

Beautiful Sunrise

Exercising on Deck 18 Early Morning

Ride Towards Wellington Beautiful Clouds at Wellington Rose Garden at Wellington Historic Cemetery in Wellington View of Wellington from Dock Walk Wellington at the Dock Area Angie and Paul from Singapore Monday. 4. At dinner we met up with Paul and Angie from Singapore. We enjoyed dining together and getting to know each other better. Angie made sure to let us know that we are welcome to visit in Singapore and to come to the church where they attend. They are a super nice couple with one son who recently married and lives in London.  Tuesday. 5. Our ship arrived to Wellington and docked by 8am. The weather is 60-70 degrees and sunny. It’s a very nice day for Wellington. There is a bus shuttle just outside the ship taking passengers back and forth into town. We ride the shuttle into town about 10 am. We walk a couple of blocks to the entrance for the cable car. There is a long line to buy a ticket for the short ride up the mountain. We decided to come back later and walk on to the Te Papa museum. It’s a few more blocks to the museum. We pass by the Wellington museum which we went through back in November. Once inside the Te Papa museum we look at the map of the 6 floors and decide where we will start. I want to see the giant squid in the Nature section on floor 2. We also see giant bones of the Moa, large birds that used to inhabit New Zealand but are now extinct. The bones are found and documented now for the past 100+years. We saw the giant squid! It was amazing! Then we split up and Darrell went to a World War 1 display and I went to an Immigrant display. We met up later and left the museum walking back along the dock to the restaurants. We had taco’s for lunch. They were nothing like US tacos but they tasted good! Lol! Next we walked back to the Cable car and got tickets in a short line. We went up the hill in the cable car. We went through the cable car museum and then followed a path to the rose garden. The path meandered downhill through beautiful plantings of trees and flowers. We arrived to the Rose garden, walked through toward the historic cemetery and on downhill back to town. We went to a store and bought a couple of things before going back to the shuttle and back to the ship. On the ship we had a snack at International cafe as we came in on deck 5. Then Darrell went to trivia and I went to soak in the hot tub on the top deck! We met up for dinner at our restaurant at 5pm. We got seated randomly at a sharing table. Dinner lasted until 7pm and we traded stories with other cruisers at the dinner table. We went to a show at 7:30 pm in the theater. It was a woman from Australia called Chauntelle. She is getting more and more publicity in her growing career. I had watched her Christmas special on Australian tv so I knew who she was. She sang crowd pleasing songs mostly, and was upbeat in her performance. Once we got back to our room Darrell found the Lord of the Rings movie on our tv selection and we began watching that. We had been wanting to watch it since we have toured so much of NZ where it was filmed at different locations. We got started on the movie and then stopped it to sleep!  Sunrise at Port Chalmers, Dunedin Port Chalmers Near Dunedin Electric Bike Ride from Port Chalmers to Dunedin Wednesday. 6. Today is Darrell’s 64th birthday! We woke up about 5am. We got up and walked across the ship to the fitness room. The room is divided into different workout areas. We are able to go into the inner studio where exercise classes are led. We arrive before any scheduled classes and do our floor routine. Once we are finished with our morning exercise, we walk back to our room and change clothes for our day. Next we walk down the stairs to level 5 and go to the International Cafe for a cup of barista coffee. I also get a green smoothie that is prepared in small juice glasses and a toasted english muffin egg sandwich. Darrell had a muesli bar made of seeds, raisins and honey. He also got a pastry that was too heavy. Some ships do not know how to make certain things, and on this ship the American style pastries are not done well. On the other hand, Italian breads like the focaccia and the pizza crust are reasonable! They also have an ok croissant. We sat and had our first breakfast. Then we went to the dining room and had a second breakfast served restaurant style. We then went back to our room and tuned into our England based Bible study from 8-9am. We are in the book of Joshua and chapter 7 today. Darrell left a few minutes early to go to the passenger led Bible study on deck 14! A man from New Zealand has been on the ship for several more days than we have and is leading the Bible study. Today I don’t go but stay in the cabin finishing our online class and having my time of prayer. We are leaving Wellington around 11am and heading to Dunedin and Port Chalmers as our next stop. Thursday. 7. Today was beautiful and sunny about 65 degrees. We rented electric bikes. We rode 10+ kilometers to Dunedin. We went to the bike shop there and asked for seat pads. He gave us pads that helped a little. We had a quick lunch of a hand held pie. Darrell got steak and mushroom and I got vegetable. We rode a bit further to follow the coast around the inlet. I was ready to turn around and go back to Port Chalmers. The bike ride was easy with a paved bike path and the little effort ride of the bike. Darrell rode on toward the castle another 12 km and I turned to ride back to the ship. My bike was just at the edge of what I could handle as it was a ‘large’ and it was just slightly difficult for me. The seat also needs more padding. I’m really wanting to try this biking more, but I have to get a good seat pad and a slightly smaller bike next time.The evening show was a Celtic music trio of a piano player, a woman singer and a fiddler. They were backed up by the ships band and it was a super nice show. Breakfast on the Ship with a Great Table by the Window View in Fjordland National Park Cruising Late Afternoon in Milford Sound, NZ View from Ship in Milford Sound Friday. 8. Today we woke up and went to the gym to work out. We were down having coffee and our first breakfast about 6:15. At 7am we went to the restaurant to have a second breakfast. We read and did our language lessons online. We got a note from Andrea with some pictures of their move to Brazil. They arrived well and are resting before they travel onward. We had a phone call with Eric and his two little ones, Owen and Esther. Around 11am we entered Fjordland National park in South island, New Zealand. We cruised through the Sounds and sat on the covered deck with the cold drizzle and low lying clouds. We enjoyed the mountains and the waterfalls. It’s massive here. The whole day we have been inside then outside looking at the scenery.  Nomad Notes. On the ship I’m sleeping well. I’m eating differently than my normal and I think I’ve gained some weight. I’m used to this fluctuation during the first days of cruising and I will regulate soon.  This last week a friend of ours from 30 years ago in Kansas City, Steve, had a fall and is in ICU in induced coma and had at least 2 surgeries. He was on a business trip in South Africa when he had the accident. We are seeing the updates on Facebook and praying for his recovery and for his parents as they are dealing with this difficult situation and great sadness.