Cruising Up New Zealand's North Island

WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND

Wellington, the world's southern most capital city, is on Cook Strait at the southern tip of the North Island of New Zealand. We docked at 8 am on Wednesday, December 26 (a public holiday known as Boxing Day). We had an afternoon Wellington Highlights Tour, so we set out on our own in the morning to explore the city using the Viking shuttle service to the city center. Since the morning started out a bit damp, we opted for a museum.

 

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

This free museum had exhibits on New Zealand History as well as Maori culture, art and treasures.

 

The outside exhibits the native bush, wetlands, waterfall and lagoon as well as an exhibit on a glowworm cave.

One of the temporary exhibits in the museum documents New Zealand's catastrophic involvement in Gallipoli, Turkey, during the beginning of WW I.

There were a number of monumental (2.4 times human size) sculptures, symbolizing the 2,779 Kiwis who lost there lives during this campaign.

One entire floor was devoted to Maori culture

Maori Meeting House

 

Wellington Highlights Tour

After lunch on the ship, the sunshine returned as we boarded buses for a three hour guided tour.

The Wellington Cable Car runs between the harbor and the top of the Botanic Gardens.

Overlooking Downtown Wellington

Pudacarda Tree aka: The New Zealand Christmas Tree

Lady Norwood Rose Garden, a part of the Wellington Botanic Garden.

New Zealand's Parliament House, Known as the Beehive.

Car ferries run regularly across the 12 mile Cook Strait between the North and South Island. Our ship set sail out of Wellington at 6 pm.

 

NAPIER, NEW ZEALAND

We docked at 8 am on Thursday, December 27 in Napier. We pre-booked the optional Cape Kidnappers Gannet Colony Tour, which left the ship at 8:45.

A stop at the cliffs along the way to the Gannet Colony.

Hawke's Bay Overlook

The highlight of the tour was visiting the Australasian gannet colony. This colony is made up of about 10,000 birds.

The gannet is part of the booby family.

The birds arrive in late July and their chicks hatch about four months later.

There was a second colony out on Cape Kidnapper's Point.

We returned via the unpaved road across rolling pastures for a departure time of 2 pm.

 

TAURANGA, NEW ZEALAND

Our final port before Auckland was Tauranga. We arrived at 9:15 am. Tauranga is a beautiful port town on the Bay of Plenty.

The tug came out to greet us at Mt. Maunganui, an extinct volcanic cone, at the mouth of the harbor.

Our ship was docked near the center of town, which made it easy to take a walk along the beaches and around the resort area.

Tauranga has beautiful beaches and is a favorite retirement area.

Moturiki Island

This looks just like a U.S. yield sign.

Returning to the ship, we departed at 6 pm.

This was our last night at sea as we headed to Auckland.