We had a wonderful cooked breakfast by our genial host. Fortified, it was off to the gannet colony. The scenery along the way was delightful and rural. We passed several farm stands, each offering the freshest, cheapest fruit and vege. Nothing like a little competition! We stocked the self catering fridge with strawberries, blueberries and tossed in a banana for good measure - for about NZ$7. We were cackling over our thrifty purchase.

Gannet are large sea birds, and in the midst of raising their young. It was hard to get good pictures of the chicks, but the adults are amazing - and did I mention LOUD?



It would be easy to watch the gannets for a long afternoon. Lots of the Christmas trees (known as Rata trees on the South Island) dot the hillside surrounding the gannet colonies. The North Islanders, though, call them pohutakau trees. You say rata, I say pohutakau .. rata, pohutakau .. let's call the whole thing off!

Following our 'gape at the gannets' adventure, we stopped for a wine tasting. The Sun Princess shore excursion left moments before we arrived. Lots of dirty glasses lay in their wake. We opted for a red and white selection; upon arrival at the hotel, found we had two whites. We need to pay more attention next time.

We got ready for our trip to center city Auckland and our drinks at the Sky Tower. It's the only restaurant I know where the tables revolve horizontally and the sky jumpers bounce vertically. "Bottoms up" takes on a new meaning in this venue. We enjoyed watching the Sun Princess set sail. We managed a lively discussion about the silver whisper's movements, as I thought it was due into port last night.

Finally, 7:30 arrived and Gary met Suzanne, the AFS student from 23 years ago. She is delightful, and on short notice brought many of her pictures from her stay in the US. It reminded us just how much fashion trends change in 20 years' time. The hot hairdos of the time have, thankfully, slid out of popular culture. Haven't seen a photo of Gary with long hair before! They both enjoyed seeing each other again and reconnecting.

We got up early for a long beach walk this morning. I flipped the TV on, with the Green Bay Packers leading the Seattle Seahawks 14-0. Since my Minnesota Vikings seem to be doing another swan dive to the depths of the conference standings to end their season, it was good to see Green Bay put on a show for the Lambeau Field faithful.

Breakfast followed with a lively chat about our travels with the proprietor. Gary is psyching himself up for another tennis match this morning. Afterwards, we'll ride the ferry to Auckland, which docks next to Silver Whisper. Boarding is anytime after noon with suites to be ready around 3 pm. Can't wait to get going .. but have so enjoyed our pre-cruise land tour of New Zealand.