March 24th, 20225
We had 2 quiet days at sea on our way to New Zealand. The water was smooth but lots of swells so the boat was bouncing around quite a bit. I did get to play Mah Jongg both days but only 3 of us and only for an hour each day. Both of the ladies are getting off in Auckland so hopefully more players will get on. Kathy had a massage since we had a coupon for some money off which we get because of our status on Oceania. Even with the coupon the massage was still ridiculously expensive. Not sure why the cruise ships feel like they have to gouge you.
We also got notice that the pool was going to be closed for the next 4 days for some “urgent” maintenance. Not sure what that means and we are in port for the next 4 days but kind of bad that you have new passengers getting on Wednesday and no swimming pool.
We had some nice sunsets.
Although New Zealand is not new for us the port of Whangarei is. The boat docked about 40 minutes away from town so Oceania had a shuttle for those of us not doing a tour had a way to get into town. Otherwise there is nothing else to do in this port.
I woke up early and got a picture before sunrise as we were pulling into port.
The shuttle ran every hour starting at 8:30 so we went out to catch the 10:30 one around 10 and it was already full. We decided to wait on the dock for the next shuttle and there were several tourism workers from New Zealand who greeted us, gave us information about the port and were nice to talk with.
The town was very nice and lots of tourism volunteers around for any assistance you needed. The town is based on a river and they have tons of sailing boats and harbors and a walking path on the river with lots of sculptures.
Several bridges crossed the river
There was also a museum in town devoted to the artist Hundertwasser. He is a visual artist who uses color, shapes and mosaics in his work. We actually visited one of the public bathrooms he designed when we were in New Zealand last year.
Pictures of the outside of the museum. We did not go into the museum but the outside was quite different. We walked around town and found a nice cafe for lunch. We also found our favorite store, Cotton On, and found some shorts on sale.
We stayed in town for several hours and then took the 3pm shuttle back to the boat. The boat was docked in a very picturesque bay.
The view from our balcony.
We were supposed to stay in port until 9pm but ended up leaving a little before 8pm. We had a bagpiper play for us as we left the harbor.
Our bagpiper serenade Sunset and you can see all the logs in port waiting to be shipped out.
Our next port is Auckland where we will be overnight. Lots of people and crew will be getting off the second day in Auckland and new passengers will be getting on.