New Zealand is Heaven on Earth

As we go from port to port, co-passengers as well as locals ask us how we have enjoyed the various ports we've been to. With 50 ports in total, you really need to have a way to quickly and easily categorize or classify each port. For me, this is how I do it:

1) Loved it so much we need to come back. A day wasn't enough.

2) Glad I've been but likely won't return

3) Easily could have skipped that port

You can guess from the Blog title how New Zealand and specifically, Bay of Islands fared. They are a #1 for us. We already know we want to come back. Buggers it's so far away, but we'll figure that out. Since embarking 35 days have elapsed and we've been to 11 ports including NZ as well as transited the Panama Canal, which is like a port day. Bay of Islands, Moorea, Kauai and Haultuco have all been 1's. American Samoa was a 3, Seriously, don't bother. All the rest were 2's. Not bad stats overall. Our plethora of sea days too has come to an end as we have 6 ports in 7 days. That's quite a schedule after so many sea days.

Why was Bay of Islands so GREAT? The story starts with a phone call a few weeks ago from a co-worker, Chris, who happens to be a Kiwi. Because he and I both changed assignments in 2022, we haven't spoken much since, but we used to work closely together. Out of the blue he calls to catch up and I mentioned we were on this cruise. When he heard we'd be in Bay of Islands, he coordinated having his parents take us around for the day. What a blessing that turned out to be.

Because BoI is a tender port, we decided to get off the boat early just to make sure we didn't run into issues; so we found ourselves on land at 8:30am though we weren't meeting Chris's parents till 10. So we took the shuttle into the town of Paihia, which was quaint and easy to navigate. They had an artisan village with various crafts, lotions and candles. We immediately were drawn to a type of wind spinner that was mesmerizing and had the added benefit of blue crystal-like ball that was etched as a globe. What a great momento to remind us of a "world" cruise. It will be beautiful at our recently renovated, classically craftsman lake house that needed some "bling".

After that, we decided to walk back to the pier as we had time and we love to walk. We...well, I...found a geocache on the way back, so that was an added benefit. We arrived back at 9:45 and I spotted their car. We were searching for each other since we didn't know what the other looked like. My bright Hawaiian shirt paid off. We were quickly acquainted with Carrie and Richard, Chris's parents and we immediately hit it off. Everything just fell into place and we all got along famously.

According to the travel guide, "Across the water from Paihia is Russell, New Zealand’s first capital which is steeped in history. Inland are the towns of Kerikeri, Kawakawa, Kaikohe and Kaeo where there are heaps of natural features, historical sites and great foodie experiences to enjoy." We took the car ferry over to Russell, which was beautiful, but we found out it wasn't actually the first capital and, back in the day, it was overrun with brothels, prostitutes and bars....a real hell hole depending on your point of view ;-). We walked the promenade and looked at a few historic buildings and went into a beautiful old british home that had been converted into a very upscale restaurant. After a bit more walking around and enjoying the exquisite weather (remember the timing-is-everything blog?), we returned to the car and the ferry back to the other side and headed toward KeriKeri, where Carrie and Richard live. We stopped at a chocolate factory that was outstanding. Their products were so high quality with no preservatives, the shelf life was just 30 days. We don't get back for almost 90 days so we didn't buy any but we sampled some. It really was THAT good.

Then they took us to see their home to relax for a bit before lunch. They have a beautiful home, quite well laid out, with lovely gardens and a lot of privacy, yet close to town. With the flat roof for water collection and sliding glass doors in every room, it felt quintessentially NZ. We then left for the restaurant, Marsden Estate Winery, Kerikeri where we met up with Chris's sister, Lisa. Like the rest of her family, we got along great. After a wine tasting, where we found a Pinot Gregio we actually liked, we had lunch which included 2 bottles of pinot gregio amongst the 5 of us, several appetizers and a few entrees. Everything was delicious and had it not been for a 5pm deadline, we could have spent much more time there. We were there 1-3pm so if that's any indication of how much we enjoyed it.... The icing on the cake was that we video chatted with Chris and had a few great laughs.

On the way back to the ship, we stopped at a waterfall and then took the back way around to the ship which offered us outstanding photo opportunities of the landscape and the ship as we crested over the hill. We covered 100 different topics during our time together which is another sign of a great time.

Once back on ship, the evening passed quickly. Dinner was relatively light for us. After which we skipped the show in favor of just having some quiet time, reading, a little blackjack, a little consulting work and then of course, the blog. It's almost midnight so it's time to publish and go to bed. I'll post pics in the ports-of-call section later this week. Too many pictures to load at the moment.