New Zealand part 2

March 31, 2009
New Zealand (continued)
Yes, again I have a bit of catching up to do. I won’t dwell too long on our trip to the Bay of Islands in New Zealand. It is a striking area because of all the lush small islands that surround the mainland. We anchored off the coast and there were actually two destinations to which the tenders could take us: the little town of Russell and the excursion to the Waitangi Treaty grounds. We did both.

Russell is called Kororaeka in the Maori tongue (meaning sweet penguin), and is an adorable seaside village. The village was mostly closed up early on the Sunday morning we arrived, so we walked around a bit, and found the local Anglican Church which had not yet opened for services. We were accompanied by Justin, one of the singers for the shows on the ship. We are fortunate to have some truly fine young people on for the entertainment, and we have gotten to know a number of them personally as friends. That would not happen on a two week cruise on a huge ship like the Crown Princess.

Yes, we even know who’s dating whom, we know how they got on the ship, where they rehearsed before they got on (Cocoa, Florida, less than ten miles from where we live), we know their voices and strengths and weaknesses, and we have seen their production shows three or four times over (they repeat them for every segment of the cruise). They have become like part of our extended family. The same holds true for the CD and ACD (Cruise Director and Assistant Cruise Director), the ship’s hostess, and our cabin stewardess. We have come to truly care about the crew and enjoy getting to know them.

After a nice walk around this tranquil town, we headed back to the ship via tender boat, and then back on the tender again to go to Waitangi. It was another beautiful sunny day as we made our way around the wide grassy grounds of the center, visiting the British Residency (now called the Treaty House), and the Maori meeting house called Te Whare Runanga with its impressive native carvings on its walls and roof. The present day Maori greeted us and put on an impressive display of their native dances and battle posturing. With their eyes wide so the whites show and their tongues pushed out and down to their chins they are indeed quite scary!