Author Archives: Serene

We entered Fiordland National Park at 7:30 a.m. on January 26, 2025. The park, established in 1952, is five percent of New Zealand land mass.  It is in the southern tip of the South Island. Our day was spent sailing … Continue reading →

We were in Dunedin on January 25, 2025. “Oh my, what a shock.”  That is what Randy said when he looked out our windows and saw logs, thousands of them, again.  We learned this species of pine originated in California … Continue reading →

We were in Christchurch on January 24, 2025. Because we almost always choose to be on the water when we can, our excursion today was jet boating on the Waimakariri River.  The river flows 94 miles from the Southern Alps … Continue reading →

We were in Picton on January 23, 2025. We went to breakfast and saw and heard the announcements about bio security for both New Zealand and Australia.  We hear or see reminders 10 times a day. Good for them for … Continue reading →

We were in Wellington, New Zealand on January 22, 2025. Our day began with Randy walking around the promenade deck while I worked on the blog.  We needed to upgrade my Internet package from one device to four because the … Continue reading →

We were in Napier on January 21, 2025. As we woke up, our ship was heading to Napier, NZ.  Residents in Napier are the first in the world to see the sunrise given the international dateline. We are on board … Continue reading →

The ship arrived at our first port, Tauranga. Our shore excursion, Bay of Plenty: Rich Land, Rich Culture, was the last excursion group to leave the ship.  It made for a quiet couple of hours onboard as most people had left to … Continue reading →

  We were given late checkout at the hotel so had a relaxing morning.  We weren’t very far from the pier, a 10-15 minute walk that we had done several times, but we opted for a taxi given our luggage.  … Continue reading →

On our way to Waitomo Caves and Hobbiton, our guide told us more about New Zealand. Although New Zealand is made of 600 islands, there are just two main ones: the North Island and the South Island.  Aukland is on … Continue reading →

We woke to our first full day in Auckland with my Apple Watch bouncing back-and-forth between Thursday, January 16 and Friday, January 17.  I left it to sort itself out and it eventually did. One of the things that always … Continue reading →