I weighed my suitcase the night before we set sail from Sydney, thank God there is no weight restriction in place for all the crap we bring. Sitting on a cruise ship feels so comfortable now. Drop the bags out front with a porter, unpack into drawers and closets, and sleep in the same bed for 12 nights while traveling between two wonderful destinations, it doesn’t get better than this.
A cruise ship is like living next to a dinner theatre with a constant moving picture show. Each night after a delightful dinner and great table mates there is a choice of entertainment. We even learned how to sneak into the last half of the early show to preview the act and determine if that should be our venue of choice. Of course, we had to check out the magician . . . . He was pretty funny and the volunteer from the audience seemed like he was having a good time. We stayed for the whole show.
Since we were early arrivers, we chose aisle seats, and sure as bright eyes and a winning smile, will attract attention, David was chosen as the volunteer for the second show. We had even seen the punch line from the previous show, but all that flies out the window when it is you or someone you know on stage. The crux of the show was Dave taking a $50 bill, writing his name on it, and the magician finding it 20 minutes later in the front zipper of his trousers. Dave was up to the challenge and was practically taking over the show with his antics. (The preview we had really did play into Dave’s ability to bugger up the magicians best laid plans). The guy kept admonishing him by calling his name, DAVE, DAVE. For the remainder of the trip DAVE was a celebrity, literally everywhere we went, the other passengers would call out there’s DAVE. Those twinkle-filled eyes and bright smile lives another day.
We enjoyed the bicycle rides at the port cities, and in Hobart we rode the path to Cadbury, Australia. The trail ended in a park with a small spur that left the park. We asked a young family where the spur went; they told us the factory was 1/2 mile away. The Cadbury factory–home of Cadbury fruit and nut bars; our absolute favorite. We had to take pictures, and visited the factory outlet store in another port city (Dunedin) and went only a little crazy.
Fjord lands National Park in New Zealand was another highlight of the cruise. The area is accessible by boat or plane, and the cruise ship managed to enter or depart through 5 separate fjords. Priceless.
The other towns were lovely seaside villages, mostly small and always so welcoming and lovely people. Knowing that we would be back for our land portion allowed us to relax and not try and see too much. We went about the business of settling into our new destination. NZ SIM cards, NZ internet. Finally we arrived in Auckland, with its distinctive skyline, this is a city with a heartbeat.
