In April Mardi and I decided to cruise from Sydney around New Zealand and back to Sydney. I’d had a couple of very tough months. Well, not only me, my brothers and our respective partners were in the middle of a very tough time.
In February, our father who was aged 89 and after a short illness in hospital left us. His death was sudden and unexpected, so it hit us all for six. So the best thing Mardi and I could do was to get away from it all for a couple of weeks.
It was the best decision. The right decision and perfect timing.
We set sail on a glorious Sydney afternoon out through the Heads and on our way to Fjordland. Although the weather wasn’t as pleasant once we got off the coast of Sydney, there were significant winds coming from the south which buffeted our ship, the delightful Celebrity Edge, for the next two days. Sadly, we didn’t get to Fjordland. Instead, the captain took us through the Cook Strait and we turned southward down the east coast of New Zealand before chucking a U-turn and heading all the way up the east coast. We enjoyed stops in Dunedin, Tauranga, Christchurch, Auckland and Bay of Islands. Once the windy weather system passed, we enjoyed beautiful weather at each of our stops.
First, let’s talk about Celebrity Edge.
Now onto some of our shore excursions. We didn’t arrange any shore excursions through Celebrity; we simply chose to get off the ship at a variety of ports and walk around.
We enjoyed our visit to Christchurch. We hadn’t been there for 15 or 16 years. I think in Christchurch, they call that pre-earthquake because, as everyone knows, Christchurch was devastated by a horrendous earthquake in 2012.
Notwithstanding that, we had a great day walking through Hagley Park and the town centre within Christchurch. We could see remnants of where the earthquake had struck with the new structures and also the central church that is still being refurbished after all these years. Christchurch is a beautiful city.
Our day in Tauranga was as eventful as any day on any trip we’ve been on. This year it coincided with Record Store Day, and as many of my readers would know, I’m an avid Pink Floyd fan, so I was on the hunt that day for some rare Pink Floyd vinyl releases which would only be available at Record Store Day. Now you can’t say that Tauranga is the place to buy vinyl. It’s a small New Zealand city. Its main feature is Mount Montaguey, a beautiful extinct volcano that I walked around, and a couple of streets of shops and a couple of shopping centres. Nonetheless, Marty by my side, we trekked to every record store we could find in pursuit of these rare vinyl albums. Throughout the day, I was in touch with my brother David and his daughter Mardi. The good news is that by day’s end, we’d all secured the records we wanted. I didn’t have much success in New Zealand, only getting one of the three that we’re after, but David and Mardi secured the other two for me, which I was very thankful for. Thank you, David and Mardi.
The next day we caught up with my nephew, Kurt, and his family in Auckland. The day was punctuated with looking for more vinyl. We were sort of hoping that the day after Record Store Day there may be some left, but alas we couldn’t find any. However, the day wasn’t about records; it was about spending time with family. We walked around the city, popped in and out of shops, had a coffee, an ice cream, and a beautiful sit-down lunch, and caught up with my grandnieces and nephews, Audrey and Archer. It was an awesome day.
Our day at the Bay of Islands, you really couldn’t call it a shore excursion day. We did get off the boat and on the bus into the city, but then straight back on the bus, straight back to the boat. It was freezing cold and it was pouring with rain, so we thought hot chocolates in the lounge were a better option for us on our last day in New Zealand before we headed back to Sydney.
