After five days at sea we made it to the North Island of New Zealand. So far we have made three ports of call; Bay of Islands, Auckland, and Tauranga. We were scheduled to be stopping at Napier today but they cancelled that due to rough weather forecast, so we are at sea today and due to visit Wellington tomorrow.
First stop was at Waitangi, a small town in the Bay of Islands. A treaty with the Maori’s was signed in 1840 in Waitangi. This was somewhat misunderstood by the Maori’s or taken advantage of by the British so they had a war about it a decade after the signing, and they are still sorting out where the chips fall after a big review of things in the 1990’s.
Here are pics of our travels in that area. Paihia is a short walk from the tender landing and a bustling tourist town.After a short bus ride through the green fields of the north island, we arrive at Kawakawa that has a notable public restroom designed some big name architect.Designer RestroomsAnd a Maori canoe.Rainbow falls. This is near the first English settlement, Kerikeri, dating back to 1820’s or so.Nice walk back to the tender dock which is at the other side of the bridge in the distance.And now the big city, Auckland, home to about a third of the New Zealanders – about 1.7 million of the 5.2 million total. View is from the top of an old volcano above Devonport to the north of the city on our day 2 excursion. Our ship is at dock below building on right side.Devonport is a navy base town dating back to the 1800’s with many Victorian houses. It became an Auckland suburb upon completion of the Harbor Bridge in 1959.Back in Auckland, Albert Park (of Victoria and Albert fame) was short walk from the ship.The Sky Tower.Auckland Art gallery next to park.Here’s a handsome Maori in the art galleryLots of new construction and sexy high-rise buildings in Aukland.The Auckland Museum was impressive with lots of Maori and Pacific islander art as well as natural history, and war memorial stuff. Here’s a more serious Maori war canoe.Keeping an eye on the helmsmanPacific Islander art. I think this is from Papua New GuineaRacing action in Auckland Harbor.And a sunset farewell.Tauranga, the largest port in New Zealand. Mount Maunganui guards the entry into the well-protected harbor.Our Tauranga excursion included a tour of the port and town and took us to the kiwifruit growing fields including shopping and tasting of kiwifruit and products and a Maori dance troupe.Here’s a few pics from on board – the roof pool deck and the bridge.
Charlie and Marty’s World Cruise 