Friday 5th April, 2019
At lunch time we arrived in Brisbane City at the Marriott Hotel in Herschel Street (Ang gave us a lift in). We were able to check in straight away and, after settling in, we decided to play 'tourist' in our own city for the remainder of the day. We wandered through the Mall and the Roma Street Parklands and at the end of the day we walked to Southbank to meet up with David, Ang, Olivia and Oscar. We enjoyed a lovely dinner together before saying our farewells and back to the hotel for an early night ahead of our outrageously early start in the morning.
Saturday 6th April, 2019
Up at 3.30am! After getting dressed, checking out of the hotel and walking to Roma Street we were all comfortable in our seats on the train as it departed at 5am. It was a lovely journey, especially at the beginning of the day as we travelled through beautiful countryside. And we made a couple of very welcome stops so that we could get out and walk around, but as it got to late afternoon we were looking forward to our arrival in Sydney.
We finally arrived in Sydney's Central Station at 8.15pm and made our way to our hotel for the night, the Marriott at Circular Quay. We had a lovely room with a Harbour view...and the bonus was that tomorrow was the start of daylight saving, which meant an extra hour's sleep!
Sunday 7th April, 2019
After a delicious sleep in we got ourselves ready and wandered down to Circular Quay for breakfast on the waterfront
followed by a walk around The Rocks area, where we met a couple who were going on our cruise. We also had a Facetime call from David, after which time we needed to get back to our hotel to check out and get ourselves to the White Bay Cruise Terminal.
Everything went as smooth as clockwork and by lunchtime we were in our Signature Suite (#6076), unpacked and settled in to our 'home' for the next two weeks
Just before heading off for the obligatory lifeboat drill we received a call from Joseph, Jack and Lucy and after that we were free to stay on our balcony and enjoy the sail away from the cruise terminal and then through Sydney Harbour and out to sea
Monday 8th April, 2019
A day at sea! And the day panned out like this...a sleep in, breakfast in The Lido, a Meet and Greet with our Cruise Critic passengers (about 50 lovely people from all over the world), a spot of shopping (yes, a cap for John), a visit to the Future Cruise Desk where we booked ourselves on a cruise in October to Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines (very exciting), Gala Night dinner, classical concert in the Lincoln Centre and a Baileys on the Rocks nightcap. And this was earmarked as a relaxing day at sea!
Tuesday 9th April, 2019
Yet another day at sea, and this one was a lot more relaxing than yesterday's. We started our day with a few laps around the deck before breakfast in the dining room (of course John had to have his customary bagel lox). Then it was back to our suite and a nice read out on the balcony until lunchtime. After lunch we went to the movie "Crazy Rich Asians", back to the balcony after that and then tonight we dined in the Vista Dining Room with a bunch of delightful people from America and Australia.
Wednesday 10th April, 2019
Hello New Zealand! We spent pretty much the whole day out on the balcony as the Noordam sailed through Milford Sound, Doubtful Sound and Dusky Sound. It was cold and misty and we saw an abundance of dolphins, as well as albatross and sea lions.
At 6pm we went down to the Vista Lounge for dinner and enjoyed a wonderful meal with the same group of people we dined with last night.
Thursday 11th April, 2019
We were up early this morning in time to disembark at our first port - Port Chalmers. Last time we were in New Zealand we enjoyed the Taeri Gorge Railway so much that we decided to do it again. We were fortunate enough to be sitting with a gorgeous couple, Alice and Norman, from Montreal which added to the enjoyment of the trip.
Back on the ship by 3.30pm and straight to the Dive In Bar for a couple of yummy burgers.
Friday 12th April, 2019
Although we were ready early this morning for our day in Akaroa, unfortunately the weather conditions were so bad that the captain had to cancel. We were to reach the shore in tender boats and it was just too dangerous.
We were really looking forward to our shore excursion too - a scenic mail run. But these things happen on cruises and you just have to learn to make the most of it. Which we did.
The captain sailed us all around area and we saw an enormous number of dolphins which were following in our wake. It was so exciting.
Saturday 13th April, 2019
We woke to picture perfect weather in Picton. At 9am we disembarked and shuttled it into the town for a bit of a wander around before our shore excursion on the Marlborough Flyer Steam Train.
John and I just love a good train ride, especially on a restored steam train and this was so picturesque
Our destination was Blenheim and we got to spend a few hours exploring this delightful little town before taking the train back to Picton.
Sunday 14th April, 2019
Wellington today, and as we had been here before we decided to revisit it on our own rather than doing any sort of shore excursion. We headed first of all to the cable car and, apart from the fact that it was incredibly windy, the line-up was insane. Fortunately we had done it before so instead we wandered down to the waterfront for a lovely long walk. We ended up at a Market, stopped to see a tightrope performer over the water (and in the water!) and a great coffee moment.
After leaving the waterfront we walked to Parliament Hill and wandered through all of the lovely gardens that were out in full flower
Monday 15th April, 2019
Our port for today was Napier, a place we had never been to, and what a delightful place it is too. The weather was quite gloomy and rather chilly but that didn't stop us. We wandered around for an hour or so
before hopping on to a Art Deco Bus Tour
Tonight we enjoyed some pre-dinner drinks with a couple of lovely ladies from Miami and then an orchestral recital in the Lincoln Centre, followed by a very nice dinner for two in the Vista Dining Room.
Tuesday 16th April, 2019
Today we visited my favourite place on the whole cruise, Tauranga
Before we left Australia we booked a day tour with Wicked Wanders, which had received great reviews. When we got hom I added to the great reviews, because the lovely Carol with her mini bus was absolutely brilliant.
During the course of the day we visited a Manuka honey farm
a kiwifruit orchard
and an avocado farm.
After the tour ended we still had heaps of time left for a wander around the town
We enjoyed our pre-dinner drinks, concert and dinner so much last night that we went for an encore tonight, followed by a few laps of the deck.
Wednesday 17th April, 2019
The Noordam arrived in Auckland this morning and by 9am we were off the ship and on a ferry to Devonport. We enjoyed a lovely walk along the waterfront and then up to Mt Victoria
After a few hours in Devonport we took the ferry back into Auckland city and had bit of a walk around. But it's really just another city so we headed back to the ship. We farewelled Auckland at 6pm and then took ourselves to dinner with the two lovely ladies from Miami.
Thursday 18th April, 2019
Around 7am this morning we anchored in the Bay of Islands. Following breakfast in the dining room we boarded a tender for Waitangi. It was a good thing that we had already been to the Bay of Islands as we only had a few hours here.
So we wandered around the market place and enjoyed a coffee before walking all the way back to the tender dock - a long and very scenic walk
At 2pm, safely back on board, our ship set sail bound for Australia.
Friday 19th April, 2019
A day at sea...and an extra hour's sleep in! We enjoyed breakfast in the dining room, went to the Test Kitchen, then the Mariner's Lunch, a 2pm recital in the Lincoln Centre, a constitutional on the deck, pre-dinner drink and dinner in the Vista Dining Room...all interspersed with a little chillout time in our cabin.
Saturday 20th April, 2019
Another day at sea, and yet another hour's additional sleep in! We did a lot more chilling out today than we did yesterday, and of course we had to start the packing process for the end of our cruise tomorrow.
Sunday 21st April, 2019
I woke up around 5am just as we were sailing passed the Sydney Opera House
By 7.45am we were off the ship and being bussed to the airport for our Virgin Australia flight home. David met us at the airport and we went back to his place for a lovely Happy Easter welcome from Olivia and Oscar.
And yet another holiday bites the dust. Big tick!
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