Auckland and Cruise

The trip over was great. I left Edmonton around 4, then had a 3 hour layover in Vancouver. I flew Air New Zealand direct to Auckland. The lay flat bed was great. There was also a mattress that they put on the bed when it was time to sleep. Highly recommend.

I got into Auckland around 5am. With everything being digital the customs and immigration was very quick. Caught a cab to the hotel. What I should have done was booked an extra night so I could check in early, but the hotel clerk felt sorry for me and found a suite that was available right away. I felt pretty grateful.

The city of Auckland is quite hilly and my hotel was at the top of one, so when I went out I got a bit of a workout. Weather was lovely high teens low twenties.

The Maritime museum had a good exhibition of the canoes used by the Maori's to come to NZ from afar. I also had a tour of the harbour on a sailing ship. They had about 6 different volunteers who hoisted the sails and took them down again.

My trip to Hobbiton was great. The tour guide in the van had lots of information about the movies and NZ in general. It was also a good way to see more of the countryside. One of the tour guides at Hobbiton had a Canadian flag on his name plate. I asked him where he was from and it was Beaverlodge. We bonded over the fact that we both went to school in Grande Prairie! Tours at Hobbiton were very well done, they leave every 10 minutes and have everything very coordinated.

After Hobbiton another van ride to the Waitomo Caves which have glow worms. It kind of felt like looking at the little Christmas lights. The guide there was Maori and lived for awhile in Calgary.

Met up with the Robins and it was quite lovely to see them. We went to the All Blacks Experience, all about the men and women's rugby. I feel like I understand the game a bit more. 

I was supposed to get on the ship on Sunday April 12, but there was a cyclone coming to the North Island and the harbour was closed so they delayed for a day. My hotel was only a 15 minute walk from the dock.

So far cruise has been good. I have joined the Robins team for trivia in the morning, and have now gained back the day I lost on the way over.