Wellington, New Zealand
As we were walking back to catch the bus back to the ship, I saw the silver sphere above and we went to see what it was. We never actually found out, but the whole area around it is awesome!
Thursday, November 27, 2014
11/18 Cruise, Quiet Day at Sea
November 18, 2014
Quiet Day at Sea
Russ gazes over the sea
Our route around New Zealand
Some cute hand towel animals :)
11/18 Cruise, Formal Night
November 18, 2014
Dinner at Blu. Doesn't Russ look handsome in a tux!
First Formal Night
Posing for our camera before having professional photos taken. Oops, I forgot to,take my glasses off.
Cocktails in the Sky Lounge before dinner
Dancing after dinner in the atrium
Love is in the air!
We had to take at least one selfie :)
After dinner, "Solstice - the Show" a cirque de soleil type acrobatic show was awesome.
I've been to stretch class every day on board, but I don't think I will ever be able to make the moves these acrobats do. They are super flexible and super strong!
My take on cirque de soleil :)
11/17 Cruise, Maori Folklore Show on Board
November 17, 2014
Tauranga based folklore group "Te Ao Turoa"
Solstice Theatre, Celebrity Solstice
After the show, Russ posed with the performers
They demonstrated the stick dance
Singing and dancing
Part of performing the Haku involves scaring your enemies by making faces at them.
The men in the audience were asked to participate by learning the Huka.
Russ jumped right in
He's a star!
I could not resist a photo with these guys :)
11/22 Cruise, Dusky + Doubtful + Milford Sound, New Zealand
November 22, 2014
The day started off cold, overcast and rainy. We did the morning Stretch class on the floor to avoid falling. The stretch class was followed by a Sole Energy class using hard plastic half spheres covered with nibs that you stand on in a variety of ways. We used chairs as ballet bars otherwise we would have ended up on the floor.
We were in the Tuscan Grille sipping cappuccino at 9:00 am when we entered Dusky Sound. At the aft of the ship with floor to ceiling windows, it should be the perfect place for viewing but the weather was not cooperating. We returned to our room to watch from our balcony but it was so rainy and overcast we moved inside our cabin and peered through the grey haze. It is described as the largest and most complex of the many fjords along the New Zealand coast, but we just saw haze.
Doubtful Sound was noon to 1:15pm and the weather was a bit better. We bundled up and ventured outside. We could see more
The skies cleared and we sailed into the narrow fjords of Milford Sound at 4:00pm. WOW! God outdid himself here. Clear blue skies and towering cliffs topped by lush mountain terrain.
11/17 Cruise, Mount Maunganui, New Zealand
Monday, November 17, 2014
Tauranga, New Zealand
Our original plan was to walk around the volcanoe
You can see the volcanoe on the right.
With the cold, rainy weather we had a change of plans. We decided to take the Hop On Hop Off bus.
Our first stop was the arts market
We met a local artist, Whare Heke. We purchased one of his carving in a shadow box like those shown behind us. It is currently carefully bundled in bubble wrap. We (me) also purchased a pair of earrings made of wooly mammoth ivory, gold and New Zealand paua shell (abalone) made by his wife.
We got back on the bus and drove thru Tauranga. We saw large carvings in progress on the beach, but it was raining sheep and kiwis so we did not stop.
We hopped off the bus in Mount Maunganui. I browsed under the awnings of the shops.
Russ had a few local beers at the Mount Brewing Company.
The bottom of the volcano was clear but the top was still shrouded in cloud
We returned to the ship the same way we departed the ship, walking in the rain.
We are almost back on board and it looks like it might stop raining.
We are back on board in our warm, cozy cabin watching a tug and container ship.
Even with all the rain it was a pleasant day. Ahhhhhhh.
11/16 Cruise, Bay of Islands, New Zealand - Part 2
November 16, 2014
Just the two of us started the tour with our guide, Tracy. She told us the tour was going to be 90 minutes and we almost left. The time flew and it was one of the best tours/lectures we have heard!
Bay of Islands, New Zealand - Part 2
Pompallier Museum
The ground level walls of the building were made of rammed earth using this type of form.
She explained the leather tanning process and more people joined the tour. The leather was needed to bind the books.
Russ tried out one of the tools used to make the leather supple.
Tracy explained the printing process.
Bishop Pompallier wrote the texts in Maori then had them checked by Maori chiefs before sending them to the printer. Jean Yvert, the mission printer, took the individual lead printers type, shown above, and arranged it into words
A page of type was arranged within a wrought iron frame and then fixed in place with wooden blocks and wedges.
Tracy chose Russ to print a page
He's a natural!
Then she explained the book binding process.
I think that producing nearly 40,000 books in just ten short years was an amazing feat considering they started with nothing.
Bishop Pompallier learned the Maori language and gained the Maori's trust. Then he purchased land, built buildings, built a leather tannery, assembled a printing press from France and then started making the books written in the Maori language.
By the end of the tour there were at least twenty of us listening to Tracy.
Amazing!
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