Feb. 11

Feb. 8: Coming into Auckland Harbor was beautiful! It is cool - 70s - with some sun and some showers. Great weather. We have tours this afternoon and tomorrow morning so not sure when this will get posted to the internet. IN NEW ZEALAND! Who’d have thunk??!! It is so exciting!!!

Feb. 10: Today was great BUT it rained all day long! Poured then drizzled then poured again! Our trip to Rotorua was nice - it is about an hour from Tauranga. We left at 8:30 and stopped at a nice lakeside hotel for morning tea. Just what we needed after eating a big breakfast! But they had excellent fresh squeezed orange juice! Then we went on to Rotorua which is more like Hot Springs, Arkansas than Yellowstone. There was a spa that had been built in 1908 to draw people from England to “take the cure” - that would have been quit a trip in 1908!! The old bath house is a museum now. Before the bath house was built, there had been “the pink terraces” which were hot pools terraced down the side of a mountain toward the sea. They had been a tourist attraction since the early 1870s. Well, in 1886 Mt. Tarawera erupted and buried the pink terraces under feet of lava and ash. The whole area is very active not only volcanically but also thermally. We were glad none of the mountains blew their tops while we were there! It is a very fascinating area. It is very beautiful country - lakes and hills - and so GREEN! We went through the major kiwi growing area - kiwi grow on vines very much like grapes in a vineyard. We would have though they were vineyards without a guide. They have to be shielded from the wind because if they bump together they get bruised and become seconds! Then we had lunch at this unbelievable place! A 7000 square foot 5 bedroom house on a peninsula which jutted out into one of the lakes. This house can be rented for $1000 per person per day! It sleeps up to 10 but can be rented in its entirety by only one person for 1000 a day. That includes staff to clean up after you and cook your meals! It was an amazing house - absolutely stunning - 9 TV’s and a media room! It was too bad that the weather was so crummy that we couldn’t get out and look around the grounds. The Captain said the seas would be rough tonight - he hasn’t said that before! We have a sea day tomorrow - we will actually get the BLOG posted - before getting to Wellington on Sunday. We had 72 beers and Caesar salads in our room. Good night!