I am way behind on my posting.. just been so busy.

WELLINGTON. We arrived on a beautiful day, sun was shining and no wind. Surprising for Wellington it is not named Windy Wellington for no reason. We went to a lookout point on Mount Victoria while the weather was nice and then headed out to visit the house I grew up in, a town called Petone. I had expected it to be pretty run down now but surprisingly the house looked great as did the neighborhood. We were taking pictures outside the house and the local post lady came along on her bicycle. She was quite surprised to see seven Americans taking pictures of a house and making a lot of noise. She looked a little shocked. Then we went to my local "dairy". Kind of like a local Seven Eleven store. Here we all bought Tip Top ice cream a local N.Z. brand. This is the kind of store that would never see tourists so the sight of seven people buying ice cream, chocolate fish, jaffas, flakes (all local sweets) was quite a shock to the shop owners. Then the post lady came in to discover us all over again. It was quite an amusing situation, she did not know what to make of all these crazy Americans. I visited my old schools to find my beautiful high school of red brick and green ivy painted an ugly blue. Things sure do change. On the way back we went up the cable car to the Botanical gardens where we found to strays, namely Gerry and Peggy and we went back to the ship for lunch.

In the afternoon we went to the local museum called Te Papa. It is not like any other museum in the world. Very inactive and imaginative. A great place.

That afternoon the weather turned bad and we had rain and hail, then as we left the sun came out again. N.Z. can see four seasons in one day some times.

NAPIER
Another sunny day with some clouds. We took the shuttle into town and decided to head for the Aquarium as we heard they had kiwis and Taylor (my grand daughter) was anxious to see Kiwis. We had an incredible experience here. Kiwis are hard to see. They are nocturnal and very shy and dont normally move around that much. When you see them in their exhibits it is dark and they are normally in the back corners. This time the Kiwi was right at the glass and very active. We were the only people there. It was the best Kiwi experience I have ever had and I have been to see Kiwis many times.

TAURANGA
We hit a cool but mostly sunny day. The drive to Rotorua took about an hour. This was a long excursion almost nine hours. It was well worth the trip and one of the best excursions I have done with Regent. It started with a great tour of the Mount Maunganui/Tauranga area, then we went to see the rainbow trout, the Agradome (all about sheep touristy but always fun). The show is great and then Taylor and I got to hold baby sheep and see a sheep dog demonstration. Then off to LUNCH. Oh did I like this. All the basic N.Z. goodies, such as lamb roast, cauliflower in cheese sauce, minted carrots - it was great. I wont tell how many times I went back. This also included a Maori concert. My daughter borrowed the Pois from one of the dancers and was able to work them in one hand as I had taught her as a child. I could not believe she could still do that. Then we went to the Thermal area and that was also fun to see again. It was a great tour I recommend this trip to everyone. Long day but wonderful.

AUCKLAND -- ah what an terrible day. It was rainy, cold and windy. No place is nice on a day like this and Auckland is such a great city. Any tours would have been dreadful as you could not see anything. We had some business to take care of during the day but that night the rain let up and eight of us went to the revolving restaurant on the sky tower for dinner. It was great. The clouds were beautiful and although there was not bright sunlight it was still a great sight. The harbor in Auckland is so pretty with the harbor bridge and all the green areas. We did not want to leave and dragged the meal on until dark when the lights brightened up the city. A great final evening.

Our hotel was the Hilton which is actually right on the same dock area as the ship. You walk from ship to hotel in a few feet. Word had it that one of the passengers opened his curtains to look straight into a guest room in the Hilton and a guy was walking around naked, oblivious to the ship that had pulled up alongside.

We returned to our hotel just before the Mariner sailed at 11.00 pm. I have never been eyeball to eyeball with the ship at this height before. We were level with the La Verandah restaurant. We watched her pull away from the dock and back out to see --- wishing we were still on board.

ON TOUR
We are now on a 7 day tour and flew back down to Queenstown in the South Island. I am currently sitting in the nicest hotel in Queenstown, Eichardts, a luxury boutique hotel with only five rooms. It is right on the waterfront. The day is PERFECT. No wind, warm and brilliant sunshine. We visited about five hotels today so my feet are pretty tired and the sun is just starting to set. This is as an idylic setting. Wish I never had to leave.

Tomorrow we drive up the West Coast of New Zealand. A rugged area that is normally raining. Looks like we might get a good day tomorrow but it will be getting rainy again late in the day. This is the coldest Spring N.Z. has had for years. Very unsettled weather. Considering that we probably really lucked out on the cruise except for Auckland.

Be back later.