Lovely to meet up again with Katie and Tee in Auckland for brunch, after which we did a little shopping before getting back onboard. As we were “back to back” guests we had to do a covid test and thankfully we were negative, though a few tested positive who have to isolate for 7 days!
We left Auckland at the right time as that night they had 10 inches of rainfall, causing flooding and chaos at the airport, so much so a state of emergency was announced.
Our first port was Tauranga but we didn’t leave the ship as it was non stop torrential rain and the main attractions were Rotorua and Hobbiton which we had already seen.
Next day in Napier, although still raining it was not quite as heavy so took a trip into the town. Which is full of art deco buildings as it was devasted by an earthquake in 1931 and everything was rebuilt as the same time. Took a walk around the museum and earthquake exhibition, some fascinating stories from survivors and lots of photos and items from the time.
Yesterday was Picton where we had arranged to join four others on a wine tour, with someone else driving! Visited Johanneshof, Rock Ferry, Cloudy Bay and finally Saint Claire where we had a late lunch. Some really lovely wines, most of which were small organic winemakers. Also stopped at Makana Chocolate, obviously a purchase was necessary!
Today we are in Wellington, had pre-booked the Weta Workshop where they make costumes and props for films like Lord of the Rings, Dune, Chappie, Spiderman, Lara Croft and many others. It was a fascinating tour seeing how things were made and the detail involved. Dad would have been fascinated by the CNC milling machine, which was in action whilst we were there. We also did a tour of the new Thunderbirds Are Go where there are a number of 1/12 scale models, again the detail was amazing.
Lis and Paul met us for lunch and took us to the Chocolate Fish Cafe on the coast which was an old Air Force Officers Quarters. Really nice fish sandwiches and of course we bought some chocolate fish! It was lovely to meet up with them both again, we were all on the Queen Elizabeth earlier in the year.
Spent our last hour or so in the Te Papa Museum and looked around the Gallipoli Exhibition, in which there are a number of statues of people, 2 or 3 times life-size, who were killed in the war (all made at Weta Workshop), horrendous War with so many killed on both sides.
The Nature exhibition was also good, although I don’t like stuffed animals, I finally got to see the five different types of kiwi along with many other birds and animals only found in New Zealand. Excellent information on the volcanoes and earthquakes that feature largely in NZ history.
Leaving soon for Christchurch our next port of call.