Hi all! We are in NZ at the Crowne Plaza, with a club room. Free drinks & canapes .. who needs dinner?

We are missing our cruise clothes bag. It's either en route from JFK or en route from Sydney. We will know soon enough.

Traffic was horrific to JFK; barely made the flight. All the while, no report of any traffic issues on local radio stations. Endless reports the local tunnel to New York City was 10 minutes; it wasn't newsworthy to spill the beans you COULD drive 60 miles at 20 mph if you wanted to get from central New Jersey to JFK.

Checked the bag at JFK the whole way through to Christchurch, NZ via our Emirates flight. Darn good thing. The good news was (a) with prevailing winds, got to San Fran in 5 hours flat and (b) had a really tasty dinner - barbequed chicken entree with good side dishes. Holy Cow, as Harry Carey of the Chisox used to yell.

In San Francisco, we hung out at the Red Carpet Club. There were a couple guys with the six racquet tennis bags. They were certainly headed to the Aussie Open with us. As we headed to the gate, noticed six San Francisco police on alert and walking the terminal. Hmm .. drug bust? customs bust? what could it mean?

Boarded our United onward flight to Sydney around 10:30 pm. New business seats are fantastic. Cabin was really cold. One outcome of the nut job who tried to blow up the Delta flight from Amsterdam to Detroit was an order for all flights to or from the US to kill the in flight entertainment system. This lead the cockpit crew, I think, to spend an extra 90 minutes on the ground trying to talk someone in headquarters out of that proclamation. Want to fly for 16 hours with a blank screen staring at you? We didn't either but that's how it went. And .. we didn't have 90 minutes to spare and still make our Emirates flight to New Zealand. No dull moments .. I was speed reading the travel insurance policy off the computer, writing down relevant info if I had to reroute us once we arrived in Sydney. On a more cheerful note, it did dawn on me the Emirates flight may also be delayed. Ah .. the joys of travel. We lined up at 8 minutes to midnight as the engines roared to life to take us over the pacific. It wasn't a good omen. I hit the 'flat bed' button about 15 seconds after take off, and woke up 3 hours later. Gary was bundled up in his coat, as the cabin was still cold.

Got to Sydney about 1-1/2 hours late. Ran (and I mean ran) to make the connection for our Emirates flight to Christchurch. We just made the check-in deadline. Just imagine .. Emirates wasn't going to or from the US. We had hundreds of video channels .. we were like kids in a candy store after the blank screen situation. Watched one of the 'John Adams' series plus one of Nurse Jackie.

We do have trip insurance so could collect if the missing bag remains MIA. Told 'em at the Christchurch airport to ship the bag to Ngaire's sister June, as they will never find us on the spirited 3 day tour over to the west coast of the South Island starting at 7:15 am tomorrow morning.

It's very pretty here and reminds us of England. they've got the avon river complete with punts, and lovely gardens every where. Weather is about 58 degrees and cloudy. It's pushing 8 pm here and bright outside. Ah ... sunlight. Got to love it.

Cheers,Anne

Anne, thanks for reporting in. I have fingers crossed for your missing bag! Enjoy, and keep telling us all about it, please!

Why would they turn off the inflight entertainment, because of the nutjob? I'm missing that.

Dear wandering nomads,
Yes please, more story time, just the thing at this time of the year. Nurse Jackie sounds interesting, bet that kept Greg awake <img border="0" alt="[naughty]" title="" src="graemlins/naughty.gif" />
Fingers crossed for the missing cruise clothes, yikes, break out the prozac!
Wiggle your nose and wish me there ;)

So good to hear from you Anne...Tom and I were thinking of you and this trip. Hope your bag shows up, give June a hug for us!

The rationale for no inflight entertainment went like this: the guy who tried and failed to detonate the bomb when the Delta flight was close to landing evidently told the authorities he was using the flight tracker (you know, the map and statistics that tell you just how much longer you have until arrival) to time when to denote the bomb. Voila - no flight trackers for anyone. I assume there was no way to disable the flight tracker section of the entertainment system without disabling the whole thing.

The implications were (a) no inflight entertainment and (b) anything tied to the remote that operates the inflight entertainment was also disabled. No overhead reading lights nor any flight attendant call buttons. We did OK, once I figured out where the extra light was in my seat. The folks in coach, though, were not so lucky. As the purser said following the decision: "folks, I hope you have an Ipod or extra sleeping pills for this flight". What a mess for the crew, and nothing they could do about it.

I was really, really glad we opted for business class on this trip. We had found one of those really short super sale fares on United back in June. Fares didn't get that cheap again, so that was a lucky break. Couldn't use miles for free tickets, and the cost of the upgradeable coach tickets was not a whole lot less than the super discounted business fares. I only checked sporadically, but did not see any upgrade availability even if we had wanted to go that route.

The plane was cold because they were pulling in the outside area (around 50 degrees when we were in San Francisco). 90 minutes of extra cold air didn't help matters. It was about 5 hours into the flight before it was warm enough to take our coats off. The blanket was summer weight, so not very warm.

We're out of here in about 90 minutes for our trip on the TranzAlpine Express. So far, Emirates' baggage agent has no details as to where the bag is. Perhaps the bag is enjoying its own tour of the USA/Australia and New Zealand. I just hope it didn't decide to see Seoul along the way :rolleyes: . thank goodness we have several days to sort this situation out before the cruise leaves on 3 January. If not, we'll be spending time in Auckland picking up a new wardrobe!

Cheers, Anne

Exciting and eventful!

Great to hear from you, Anne, and SO looking forward to your adventures!

Oh my! As always, I love your colorful reporting, Anne, but that sure must have been a long and cold flight, not to mention boring! What a great attitude you two have! Looking forward to hearing more along your journey -

I've been reading about this mess over at Flyer Talk; seems UA and CO are the only two turning off the IFE, so far.

Fingers crossed for the missing bag!

Anne - so sorry to hear of all your flight troubles, but glad to hear you did make it there OK.

As one who's driven the Bucks County to Long Island route over a dozen times a year for 30 years, what you experienced is not unusual. So often we'd sit in traffic & go from traffic report to traffic report with never a word about the traffic we were in.

However, in the future, unless on a Sunday morning, you're better off getting off at Exit 10 or 13 & going through Staten Island & then through Brooklyn rather than going through a tunnel & through Manhattan & Queens.

I've also been reading those reports on FLyerTalk. It's really quite ridiculous, isn't it? Are they going to ban watches next? Anyone who knows what time a flight is scheduled to land and has a watch can determine when they are an hour from landing! Were you not allowed to have blankets? Books? Although I guess with no overhead lights you couldn't read anyway. Seems to me that those full body scanners are the best solution to this kind of threat.

We are thinking seriously of canceling our flights to Fla & driving down instead.

Anne, while I don't envy what you and Gary are going through, I am always both informed and amused with all your travel stories! Anyway, I hope your luggage finds its way to you by the time you get on the ship.....at least they have a few days to get it to you!

I have to agree with others, those full body scanners seem to be the next solution to prevent and deter these kinds of incidents. My vivid memory leaving Amsterdam early in December almost as soon as I walked into the airport was the entry to El Al airline being ringed with yellow crime-scene type tape. Armed military guards with machine guns manned the area. I guess this is what one would call being proactive in this age?

What was strange about AMS was that I kept waiting for a security check, and it did not come until I arrived at the gate. No shoes off, but there was random physical checking of carry-on bags. They found my corkscrew, which to that point had been with me since I left home at the beginning of the trip and made it through 3 airports before being confiscated.

Enjoy the rest of your adventure, and write when you can!

Anne, glad Gary and you (sans cruise bag) made it safely...look forward to tracking the Whisper from the Spirit chronicles while we're both onboard respectfully (whisper/spirit 3 Jan); more importantly, look forward to grandslamail from you during Australian open..best, wes

It's always fun reading your reports, Anne, even if it's about poor travel conditions. Can't wait to hear more about your NZ road trip. We sure enjoyed ours although we didn't take the train. Maybe next time. Looking forward to more interesting reading from you.

Nice to hear from all of you. I'm on a wireless internet that's about as fast as sending smoke signals to Dallas. This is the one & only site working reasonably well.

The bag was found and arrived at June's in Auckland around 7 pm last night. I am so grateful she's got it. Yes!!!

I did move our flights to and from Sydney yesterday to allow 2 extra hours to make the flights on both ends. The new security measures are still front page news in the papers this morning. I've had enough of racing through airports today (and thanks for the tip, gil. we did take the staten island to the belt parkway route - still an unreported traffic mess)

Yesterday was terrific. The New Zealand people we've met are unfailingly friendly and ever so willing to strike up a conversation. Our driver to the train station gave us a wonderful overview as to the highlights of our three day tour. The line for the train check in was long, but handled extremely efficiently. We wound up sitting with a family of five from England. They were on their trip of a lifetime, spending 5 weeks touring in New Zealand. Lots of photos were snapped when folks were boarding, so they were commenting on how much they enjoyed being background material for people's trip photos. They moved on to convincing the older daughter the proper word in New Zealand for a single sheep was "shep". You had to be there .. it was really funny.

The scenery is not only dramatic, but changeable. One starts in the plains grasslands, rises up into the alpine area, heads down a huge (13 mile) steep tunnel (that's for the roller coaster fans on the trip), enters subtropical rainforest, and finishes at one of the larger cities on the west coast, Greymouth.

One of our nagging questions was answered: why isn't the ship stopping up here, closer to the glaciers? turns out there is no deep water dock or suitable facilties for the ship to weigh anchor. It was a calm day, yet lots of swells in the ocean.

We were promptly dispatched to our hotel in town. Umm .. why are we driving out of town? where are we? 20 minutes later, we arrive at our home for the evening. Oops - we're about 6 miles out of town with nary a restaurant in sight. We've got about 65 minutes to eat lunch & go on the four hour tour to the sea coast. We hurriedly hoofed it to the grocery store, where we are reminded to park our trundlers HERE. Trundler? grocery cart for the non-natives. We headed to the deli, got a few salads and hoofed it back to the hotel. for those of you who know Gary, he cannot be rushed while he eats. he had about 10 minutes, and no food allowed on the van. Oh well .. we ate enough to stop our stomachs from grumbling.

We are having to reacquaint ourselves with the New Zealand Queen's english. Some of what's said is still flying right over our heads. The tour driver was focused on getting our vouchers. Fair enough .. then says "we must go for there are many togethers. Hmmm .. then Gary whispers "many to GATHER!!". Next up was the request to get back a little early to be dropped off on the brudie tour. I got that one "the BREWERY tour". I said hello to a friendly pair of children as we were hiking to the trundler store, and they stopped, shocked expressions on their faces. Gary really laughed yesterday, saying, "can you imagine how weird WE sound?"

The rata trees here are entering full bloom. they are a lush green, and cover themselves with bright red flowers. Our photos don't do them justice, but it was breathtaking seeing the bright red against the shiny green trees on the hillsides. The vegetation here shimmers in the sunlight. I've not been in a coastal rainforest like that one before. They have a rare rock formation called 'pancake rocks'. small horizontal layers in the hundreds, being beaten down by pounding waves. It's like Cappadocia set along the coast. Very unusual and worthwhile to visit.

After we dropped our thirsty, grateful companions at the brudie, we decided it was late enough our time to stay in at the hotel for dinner. It was absolutely superb. A group from Overseas adventure tours was also here, so it was a lively evening at the bar and restaurant. I managed to stay awake until 9, and slept until about 4:30 this morning.

today we are out of here at 7:30 for our tour of the Franz Joseph and Fox Glaciers. Gary's going to try to get a helicopter tour. Looking at our tour itinerary, there's not much time. I do have great faith, though, if it can be made to happen, Gary's my guy to do it.

Cheers, Anne

Ah Anne just read this thread. I LOVE you being away and posting as your posts are so entertaining. Glad June has your bag and I know she has some tennis lined up for Gary.

That flight --- grrr no inflight entertainment. It is so stupid some of the over reaction that happens that really has no bearing on keeping us any safer in reality.

On our last Europe flight the inflight entertainment system was broken and I was not pleased. However it was only 8 hours and we had two computers for battery power and a portable hard drive with movies. I relisht "my time" on flights I love watching movies and just chilling out. No movies the princess is not happy.

Love your reports from New Zealand and wish I was there with you. That Alpine train is amazing in the variety of the scenery. The typical New Zealand experience small town experience, no restaurants to be found or they are not open when you need to eat. A SLOWER pace of life for sure, particularly on the West Coast. My father was born in Greymouth by the way. As you drive the road to Queenstown you will be surprised how few vehicles there are on that road. Arthurs Pass and coming down towards Wanaka and Queenstown is truly spectacular. The highlight of the trip.

Not much at Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers either and the hotels are not 5 star for sure, but you will enjoy this area.

Anxious to read more reports as you continue your travels.

As always Anne, you send the most interesting reports. I would have been going crazy on that flight, especially since I don't sleep much, nor do we bring along a wireless computer.

It sounds as if you and Gary just went with the flow, as alwasys.

Can't wait to read more.

YES!!!! So happy that the bag caught up!

Sounds wonderful! I love your adventures Anne, and the way only YOU can report them!

Feels like we're sitting on your shoulder, Annie, experiencing this trip w/ you! What a great trip. (Did you need a trundler for the brudie??) Can't wait to see your pics. Have fun, you 2.

The West Coast is a lovely place to visit, and is sparsely populated. Four cars constitutes a significant traffic jam. We were still giggling a little about the owners of the Do Duck In bakery having Ducked Out on the public holiday (Monday after christmas). I love some of the slogan and names here. "Once bitten .. forever smitten" is another one for sandwiches. "Snacks on Tracks" for the rail cafe car.

Our day to the glaciers (pronounced glass-e-r over here) started out with a soggy, driving rain. There were 10 of us on the outing, and our guide was commenting it's usually only 2 or 4 people. We headed further south, where our specially equipped van had windows that turbo-fog when there's wet or humid weather. Our guide valiantly tried to point things out along the drive, but all we saw was fog on the windows. The West Coast is truly the Wet coast in this country. Think Seattle on steroids, with rain building up the further south you go. The Fox Glacier village has about 5 meters of rain each year! This is, in fact, the rainy season.

A soggy day sounded like no fun, so I tried to channel Ngaire's Maori weather juju. It worked! By the time we arived in Hokitika in about 45 minutes, the rain had nearly stopped. The van windows were clearing nicely, and life was looking up! An older couple had lost a prescription eye medication, without having an extra copy in their documents. The couple asked the Hokitika pharmacy for a refill. The pharmacist needed a prescription. Seeing the couple did not have one, he took the initiative to phone the local doctor. The doctor discussed the matter with both pharmacist and patient, then authorized the release of the eye medication. The pharmacist administered a dose of the medicine for the patient, along with swapping a few stories of New Zealand and England's cooperation in World War II. I was really impressed how resourceful the pharmacist was in getting the situation resolved.

We got to the first glacier and everyone gamely took a walk up to the lookout stand for the Franz Joseph glacier. It is magnificent, not only because of its mass but also because it has receded so dramatically over the past 250 years. The people who climbed onto the face looked like the tiniest of specks from our vantage point. We then headed to a great restaurant at lake matheson, just outside the Fox Glacier. It reportedly has crystal clear reflections of the glaciers, with nary a ripple in sight. We were not so lucky - the clouds had descended again over the glaciers, and the lake was riled up. The Fox Glacier had a hike in about 2 kilometers to near the edge of the glacier. We crossed a couple of streams until we hit the "DANGER! DO NOT PROCEED WITHOUT EXPERT GUIDE" signs. Gary was so thrilled with this adventure .. climbing rocks, nearly getting his feet wet in the streams, taking hundreds of pictures .. it did not get much better than that.

We were lucky to stay at the Fox Glacier town, so we got dropped off first and picked up last this morning. The proprietor recommended a fun restaurant about 2 blocks down. We were pretty tired from all the hiking, so headed to bed. I went to open the mini refrigerator to have a glass of wine before bed and - WHAM! - the bottle rolled out, shattering in about a gazillion pieces. Ugh .. had to clean that mess up for a good half hour and hoped to get the glass shards off the tile floor. Pounding rain kept us up part of the night, and the corrugated iron siding made sure the wireless internet would not reach our room.

We got up around 6 this morning and started to prepare breakfast. I had a 'brain fade' and dialed the toaster to my usual setting at home. With 220 volt power, you need a lot less toasting time. Sure enough, the toast was borderline burnt to a crisp. There was no hope of a replacement. I sighed, sat down to kill the taste with jam when the smoke alarm went off with full force and effect. We were opening the windows & doors, as the ceiling was about 12 feet so we couldn't reach the reset button. The neighbors must have loved that .. not!

We finally got ourselves reorganized and waited for our coach to Queenstown. We were riding on Newman's coaches ('First Class, all the time') and met our master and commander, Big George. George takes great pride in his job, and loves everything traditional and English. The trip was accompanied by a running commentary from George, which to my ear resembled a cross between the page on 30 Rock and an old English comedy. He let us know that if we were cold in the back, he could turn down the air conditioning because, NOT ONLY is there a name on the side of the bus whose history and reputation must be upheld at all times, there are also those GENTLEMEN .. first in the pink hats and then in the black hats who had driven passengers for decades before him, and their reputations and contributions must also be upheld!! He went on to observe that, if fabulous British men he'd met on our coach were an example of British men today, he thinks he'd like to see more of them in New Zealand. It was both endearing and funny at the same time.

This area, in addition to being quite wet (hence the lush coastal rain forest) is very prone to rock and land slips – what we call landslides and rock slides. Newman's was the coach company selected to transport the Premier, the other dignitaries and invited guests to the ceremonies marking the completion of the road in the late 1930's. No sooner did the frivolity reach a peak as they neared the ceremony, but the driver encountered a rock slide from a few hours earlier that blocked the road. He turned the coach around to return the guests to the starting point, only to find a second rock slide had blocked the way out. The coach was trapped for one week's time, and the passengers had to be helped over the mass of rocks and transported back to the North Island. As the guide said in Greymouth, one of the hotels is where the Queen of England always stays when she visits – like once, on her coronation tour 75 years ago.

We got into Queenstown around 4:30 pm, taking a hike up to our hotel. It's gorgeous here .. a cross between a ski resort like Vail and Gerainger Fjord in Norway. We had a lovely meal on the waterfront and played 'guess the wine pairing' with the sommelier. It was a lot of fun, and he did a great job matching the wines to the courses. A snowstorm is raging at the mountaintop level, and most are wearing shorts and flip flops down at the wharf. What a city!

It's about time for bed. We leave for auckland tomorrow morning on the 9:40 flight. Our proprietor thinks it's ok to leave here around 9 am, as it's solely a domestic flight. Folks, I've been living with TSA for a little too long. We settled for 8:30 am as a departure time. Looking forward to seeing June's smiling face at the Auckland airport!

Cheers, Anne

Sorry about the rain, Anne. You are bringing back so many memories from our trip, although ours came with wonderful sunny weather. We must have eaten at the same restaurant on Lake Matheson. Delicious. The glaciers are amazing especially since you walk through the rainforest to see them. Are you staying at The Dairy in Queenstown? Just wondered since we stayed there and it was an uphill walk. Keep writing because I love reading!

Anne you had me laughing - literally giggling Lisa (the only other soul in the office) came in and asked me what was going on.

The West Coast is the New Zealand of OLD and in many ways has no resemblence to the rest of the country. As you are discovering. If anyone is thinking of going to the West Coast I always warn them and try to explain what this area of New Zealand is like. Breathtaking beauty but about 40 years behind the times. This is charming for some, irritating for others.

The picture of the tour in the fog, then the wine bottle breaking on the floor, pounding rain on those awful tin roofs that are so prevelant in "old" New Zealand, toast burning and the smoke alarm going off, these are memories you will never forget. Great story telling at dinner on a cruise ship!

Life is so much simpler - amazing to leave at 9.00 for a 9.40am flight but really that would work! In this Fiordland area of N.Z. is where I left my bag(with passports) behind in town. The airstrip was about 20 minutes from the Downtown area. I realised this as we were taking off. I was told "no worries" we will get it. The plane landed in a field in town and a truck pulled up along side the plane, the driver of the truck threw the bag into the cockpit. The plane never stopped we just took off again - simply amazing. We were on a regularly scheduled flight a plane with about 20 people and everyone got into the situation and were cheering. Made for a fun trip.

When things constantly go wrong I always see the humurous side of the situation, thankfully so does Ken. A small thing I might find irritating but when it continues to develop what can you do but laugh!

Auckland should be warm and sunny - far more upscale with the appropriate traffic jams you will feel right at home.

Wow! I'm with Ngaire, laughing, visualizing all, but especially the burnt toast and smoke alarm! How true - memories are made of this!

Can't wait for more!

Great stories, Anne! Can't wait for more!

Happy New Year Anne and Gary, you beat us to it!

Just saw your New Year's celebration downunder on TV - A very Happy New Year to you and Gary!

Keep those reports coming Anne - you are so entertaining. You beat us to 2010! Lee

Happy New Year, everyone! Lee - it's great to hear from you. Both of us beat most of the world into 2010, didn't we? Heh heh heh

We enjoyed an easy flight to Auckland, meeting June and Brian just outside the security area. After doing a quick tour of the North Shore area, all four of us boarded the 3 pm Fuller's ferry to Waiheke Island. Resident New Zealand seniors ride the ferry for free, a good value since the round trip tickets are NZ$32 apiece.

We found the closest open winery and settled in for a toast (or two … or three). Cable Bay has a lovely outdoor sculpture garden, cleverly arranged to be most beautiful against the setting sun, the blue sky and the bay below. Time flew, so a scramble ensued for a taxi. All's fair when it's a ferry timetable - so June and Brian caught the first taxi. Our taxi to the opposite end of the island arrived next, followed by June and Brian's ordered taxi. As we swung out of the parking lot, the taxi radio crackled “The June party has been stolen by the competition!” Following this little contretemps, we arrived at our lodging for the evening, Te Whau (pronounced Te Fow) Lodge.

Sumptuous is the word best describing our lodge. Gene O'Neill and Liz Eglington purpose built this four room inn. Harold Roark (from Ayn Rand's book, “The Fountainhead”) would wholeheartedly approve. Native New Zealand pine covers ceilings, walls and most floors. Skylights illuminate the bath, providing perfect light for one's make-up regimen. Lovely balconies provide sheltered, stunning views down the hill to the bay below. We were allocated the fish room, with bright original artwork and a bedside short story reader entitled “Seduced by the Sea”.

We took off for a walk before dinner, quickly learning a volcanic island means lots of hills and valleys. Nearby olive trees and herds of alpaca supplemented the vineyards as a source of product and income. Drinks and canapes were served at 7 in the common room overlooking the bay. Gene surely knows how to concoct tasty, interesting fare. Local wines were featured and congenial conversation ensued. Another couple from Auckland joined us around the common table for dinner, he an engineer and she a finance director. Talk about four peas in a pod! Gene prepared two kinds of lamb – a rump cut and a shoulder cutlet on the bone. I'm not a big fan of lamb, yet really enjoyed both of the offerings. A pearl barley and diced vegetable accompanied the lamb, along with grilled baby zucchini. Lamb was matched with a locally produced montepulciano wine, followed by a syrah. The syrah carried us nicely into a deep chocolate tart pastry topped with an abundance of grilled white peaches and baked berries. Gene guided the conversation, and next thing we knew it was 11:30 pm. Time to haul out the champagne, look through the fog for the Sky Tower and watch the ensuing fireworks to ring in the new year.

Next morning, we took another walk before a late breakfast. Another locally based, amazing meal ensued. We enjoyed a leisurely look at the island, returning by ferry to the North Shore. June and Gary had arranged to challenge the local competition at the tennis courts. Brian volunteered as the umpire and I served as match referee. The inaugural Milford Slazenger Invitational Tournament, Davis Cup Division commenced on schedule. The Filipino team must have obtained video footage of Gary's tennis strategy, running him mercilessly around the courts. June cracked several short cross court winners, and Gary skidded several down the long lines for winners. Alas, Marianne's deadly forehand delivered the winning shots. We conducted the award ceremony, complete with crossed rackets and a feeble attempt at the Filipino national anthem.

We checked into our accommodation on the Takapuna Beach promenade. Eek .. another self catering studio was entrusted to us. I eyed that toaster warily, since it was a public holiday = no stores open to stock breakfast. Much to my relief, the proprietors do offer a breakast for a few hours in the morning. We settled in to watching the old Whoopie Goldberg movie, sisterhood (?) and promptly fell asleep.

We plan to go further afield this morning, heading out to see the gannet colony and finishing up with a drink at the Sky tower in Auckland this evening. Our ship is scheduled arrive around 5 pm this afternoon, so we'll be able see her sail in if the weather gods cooperate.

This trip has already been wonderful in so many ways. Gary's family had hosted an AFS student from New Zealand for the 1986-87 school year in New Jersey. They have lost touch over the many years. Out of the blue, he mentions this to our hosts at Te Whau, who grabbed the Auckland phone book. Sure enough, there was only one entry for her surname. Gary called and voila! Her parents answered the phone. She's gone on to be an excellent pastry chef in Auckland and will meet us for a coffee in the early evening. He's really looking forward to seeing her after all these years .. and I'm secretly hoping she also brings a little sample of her concoctions. Can't wait for the day to begin .. but if I don't get off this computer RIGHT NOW, breakfast will close and I'll be forced to navigate the kitchen again.

Cheers, Anne

Anne thanks for the outstanding, as always, reporting - I am loving it!!!!!!

It sounds heavenly Anne, I could have easily assisted you with eating your share of the home cooked New Zealand lamb. A fine time in Auckland with June and Brian it seems. Sad that Ken and I could not have been there with you. We love Waiheke Island and have never spent a night there.

Fantastic that Gary is going to see this young lady who he knew 23 years ago, particularly since is was so unexpected, that reunion will be a ton of fun.

Keep the posts coming love reading your adventures.

what a great time you're having! June and Brian are the best! So happy that Gary will be able to reunite with the foreign exchange student who lived in his home..that will sure be fun.

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.

Great report as usual Anne - loved the hairdo bit. What a fantastic photo!

Poor Gary having to watch yet another tennis match. I'm quite happy to take his seat at the Aussie Open if it all becomes too much for him.

Looking forward to your next instalment. Lee

Wonderful to hear from you; sounds grand and look forward to hearing more adventures!

Such lovely tales of a lovely trip. They could make it into a PBS series, like those English tales.

Anne, I am enjoying your reports so very much! As usual, you entertain us with your wit and humor. Here....... waiting for the next installment. Thanks!

We're enroute to Napier after enjoying a most interesting day at Rotorua.

Our captain is Cataldo Destefano, who has also served on the Silver Wind. Staff Captain is Tomasz Kulas from Poland – he's pretty new to Silversea. Our hotel director reminds me of Engelbert – he's Hubert Buelacher from Austria. He was standing in the foyer and greeted all of us heartily upon embarkation. He went out of his way to make Brian and June, our visitors, quite welcome. Cruise Director is Sam Perry from Australia. Those of you who are Diamond fans may remember when he was her Cruise Director. Our 'magnificent' Natalya of Panorama Lounge fame on our CAMEL sailing is onboard, a butler for the forward 7 deck. She sends everyone her best regards. Finally, our cabin stewardess Linda from South Africa on CAMEL is now the executive housekeeper. Good for her!!

We had a delightful send off with Brian and June,, who graciously joined in our toast to Wes, Ida, Doug and Lynn on the Silver Spirit. In addition to typical embarkation procedures, we filled out a brief health questionnaire and got our temperature recorded, using one of those ear thermometers. We were pronounced 'normal' by the ship's doctor. Gary and Brian both asked if that opinion could apply to all their body parts. The doctor burst out laughing, spilling a whole stack of disposable ear molds. The two of them were grinning from ear to ear afterwards. Our suite was ready at 1:30 pm, so we took our various hand luggage direct to our suite (guided by the Magnificent Natalya, of course!) . No champagne was proffered upon embarkation; but we found a chilled bottle quickly in our suite. I must remember to ask for a Mumm's at the bar tomorrow to see if they still carry it as a complimentary choice.

Silver Whisper is in good shape. They've changed the housekeeping arrangement to provide butlers for each cabin. We have Bobby Boy from the Phillipines as our cabin steward, but we are to run all of our requests through Sallie, our butler. It is a lot of work for the butlers from what I can see.

Speaking of special requests, I put in a standing order for blueberries as we ran out of them after half of the Black Sea cruise. Good thing I did – no blueberries in sight on the buffet this morning. It took a minute, but my blueberries appeared along with other mixed berries. This set off quite the conversation in our corner of La Terrazes. For you fans of “When Harry Met Sally”, we quite literally had the “I'll have what SHE'S having” requests from nearby guests. Of course, the father and son from the Texas area offered “Blueberries are good in pancakes but they stain your teeth”. The neighbor rejoined, “Yes, and so does red wine. I like them BOTH!”

Rotorua has the boiling mud pools as well as the geysers. It's a center for the Maori people and their descendants. Drive time was about 1-1/2 hours each way from the ship. We started at the Rotorua Museum, located in the former South Seas Bath House. Did I mention it stinks of hydrogen sulfide? It's a gorgeous building from the 1900's, modeled on Elizabethan architecture but modified for the spa patient needs. I inwardly groaned at the thought of 1-1/2 hours in a museum. The time actually flew by, and our docent Peggy was a delightful Kiwi of English descent. You've got to see the 20 minute film about the history of the building – no wonder New Zealand is rapidly becoming a film capital. Amazingly, NO time was allocated for the museum gift shop.

We rejoined the bus, back in the careful, friendly care of our driver Ward. He reminded me of Big George on the Newman's coach tour to Queenstown. Following the museum, we went to the local Maori culture center. Our guide Damien (one eighth Maori who takes after his Scottish ancestry) went to great lengths to keep us interested and on schedule. A carving and weaving school are on site. A highlight was seeing two Kiwi birds hopping around in the half light. They were a little bigger than pictured by my mind's eye. The mud pools and geysers were amazing. I shot a little video footage of the geysers building up to full force. Once again, we were encouraged to proceed directly to the coaches for our lunch stop – do not pass go, do not stop in the gift shop.

Lunch was at the Princes Gate hotel, Rotorua's self-advertised most exclusive boutique hotel. All that, and a proud mom and dad proprietor who are boosting their professional singer daughter's career. Lunch was freshly grilled steak or chicken right off the barbeque, plus side dishes and sweets. We all snoozed on the ride back to the ship. All in all, a well executed shore excursion. We boarded at 3:30 and prepared to set sail at 4 pm. Umm .. the winds were high and rising, blowing the ship back into the pier. Not so good. It took an extra 45 minutes plus a few tugboat maneuvers to get us safely away from the pier and headed out to sea.

Our captain warned we will should expect 30 to 35 knot winds and a bouncy ride. I'll be riding my high heels carefully at the formal welcome aboard dinner and reception this evening.

Cheers, Anne

Silver Whisper berthed at Lyttleton, Christchurch,
from the port cams.

David - wonderful stalk! We are now on our way to Port chalmers, gateway to Dunedin.

We had a full day excursion with High Country Explorers. They transported us from the Lyttleton dock to the Flock Hill station. We boarded Jet Boats to ride up the river for transfer to 4x4 vehicles up onto the high plateaus. Only problem was, weather was coming in and the river was rising rapidly. We, as is our wont, stayed at the back of the line. The first boatload had to remove shoes to board from the water soaked jetty. Our driver hooked up the tractor, pulled our boat out of the water, and we boarded from the rocky shore. By the time the ride was over, we felt the rain picking up steam. The fleet of five vehicles (with the port a potty trailing from the largest of them) departed for the high country. We saw lots of cattle and sheep/lambs. Lunch was at the Flock Hill Lodge. We had chicken, beef and lamb with six different sauces.

Upon our return from Flock Hill, it was time for trivia. We had a new player, Allan from Australia, join us. One other team objected, as they contended an additional Aussie took us beyond the 8 maximum on a team. Each Aussie evidently counts for 2 players apiece. We did decline to point out the aussie superstar team would, therefore, constitute 16 players.

We took second place, following our clear cut victory for yesterday. We are accumulating tokens at a rapid rate. Here's your tie breaker question: Which Beatles song was banned by Iran for having a title which suggested an illegal activity?

Cheers, Anne

My first thought is Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds?