New Zealand and Australia

We are in civilization again!! First stop Bay of Islands. Well, we know why they call it that, there were a ton of islands!! What a pretty area this is. We took a helicopter ride then a tour of some of the top sights in the area. Only one day there so we had to pack it in!

We were off to Auckland for the next two days. We took a tour to see the glow worms the first day. Glow worms are a group of insect larvae that glow through bioluminescence. The Waitomo caves were discovered in 1887 by an English surveyor and a Maori chief. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside the caves but it was very interesting. The larvae drop string-like lines to trap their pray – much like the spider’s web. There was a boat ride to see the glow worms inside the caves. Very cool.

Before the caves we stopped in this cute little farm for lunch. They host tourists all the time and it was quite a lovely location. The highlight was the ice cream served in a frozen ice bowl. Yummy and very cool!!

We spent the 2nd day shopping in Auckland, visiting a grocery store and an office supply store to get a protractor for Tinger, among others.

Our ship looked so beautiful at the port that evening.

Sydney. Australia was next. Our first day was so fun, visiting a sheep farm just about an hour north of Sydney. Tobruk sheep farm was started by a gentleman who was stationed in Tobruk in Libya during WWII. When he returned from the war, the Australian government gave him some land and Tobruk was born. It now has about 100 heads of sheep and hosts tours and many events. Jevyn actually told us where Tobruk was – he knew from all his history YouTube channels.

We all learned to crack a whip and throw a boomerang. Jevyn got the hang of it right away.

On day 2 we did a little shopping and went to the Sydney sky tower for a view and lunch. The lunch wasn’t great but the view was great!

Justin and I had a drink in Sydney’s oldest pub, The Fortune of War, before getting on the ship to leave Sydney.

off to Melbourne next! We spent about 2 hours at Victoria Market shopping and window shopping. We event ate at the food court there. I had a yummy Sri Lankan plate. Loved the spice. Really missing spice on the ship. The food on the ship is not great. I was also very impressed that the whole market will be getting rid of single use plastic bags and utensils. Yaaay !! The girls and I went strolling around the city and took another sky-view is the city at Eureka 88 sky tower.

We were supposed to spend the night in Melbourne but there was a storm headed our way and the captain wanted to get ahead of it. So, we left a day early.

We did hit some rough seas on day 3. Many people were held up in their rooms for at least a day.

Off to Fremantle/Perth! We arrived a day early so we went to Rottnest Island to see the quokkas. Cute little animals that are very used to humans. We bikes around the island and it’s simply gorgeous!! The place doesn’t allow cars so the only motorized vehicles are service ones from the island itself. It had the most gorgeous coves and beaches. We have to come back! How many times have I said that on this trip.

We stayed in a beautiful hotel outside of Perth in Scarborough. We stayed at the Rendezvous hotel where some of the international water polo teams were staying for the world championships. The receptionist told us that the Chinese team had the tallest players – at least the men’s team. And they were really tall.

This is a beautiful place with beautiful beaches.

Day 2 was so much fun! I will show you in pictures.

We saw live “wild” kangaroos

And, koalas though they’re not wild. Koalas are not native to Western Australia so they were brought in.

We stopped in the town of Guilderton. It’s a hot vacation spot for Australians. It’s also where the Moore river meets the Indian Ocean. It was beautiful but the water was very cold in the river.

Then off to the sand dunes for sand surfing.

Pinnacles desert is this area where all these pinnacle formations exist. It’s only in the part of Australia and there is still controversy about what they are. Some think they’re petrified tree stumps and other think it’s limestone calcium buildup. We think it’s tree stumps because they look so much like it. You be the judge.

An then, just some really nice pictures of downtown Perth at night.

We barely made the ship boarding time because we stopped to eat Korea food and they were very slow, then our stove turned off. So, I ended up packing up half raw meet to take on the ship. We made it with 10 minutes to spare but then we were delayed almost 2 hours due to immigration issues and medical emergency. Damn! We could have sat and enjoyed our Korean meal!!

So, that was it for Oceana. We loved all of Australia and will be back! It seems that instead of taking places off our list we are adding to them.