Around the World Again

Auckland, New Zealand – February 2, 2018

Since I had done a very good tour of Auckland in 2014, I planned to sleep late (since I have tours the next three days) and then venture out to find the wool shop and lunch at around 11:30. The work crew had a different schedule, however. Promptly at 9 am the hammering on my window started. It was very strange to be in bed and see two men with hammers on the other side of the window! Gave up going back to sleep and got ready for the day.

I was off the ship by 10:30 and on my way to New Zealand Fabric and Yarns in the Queens Arcade. It is a very tiny shop but had some of the most beautiful yarns I have ever seen. I finally (I don’t shop quickly for yarn!) decided on wool for a warm woolen hat and sock yarn for my cruise next year. I was able to get some great local yarn that are blends including possum. The very invasive common brushtail possum is very different from the North American opossum.

I was hoping to find some odds and ends on my list but did not find what I wanted so I will look again in Sydney since I have no excursions planned. I continued to walk around but did not find any place I really wanted to eat so I headed back to the ship.

In my experience the free Wi-Fi in terminals is usually as slow or slower than on the ship. So, I was very pleased to find that Shed 10 (our terminal) had a very good connection. Some people had trouble getting connected but my iPad hooked up right away. I spent an hour going through old e-mails, other blogs I am reading, and Cruise Critic.

Finally, I decided I needed to get on the ship and have lunch before the Lido closed at 2. I had a hankering for pasta and ended up with spaghetti. I met Sherita who just joined the ship today (we played trivia together on the Westerdam in 2016 and we will be on the same cruise next year) in the Lido. After enjoying my lunch and my book I picked up my laptop and took it into the terminal with hopes of updating Windows (the source of my picture woes) and my anti-virus software that has been sending me messages that it needed updating. I was able to update both within 25 minutes.

Back on the ship I read by the pool for a few minutes before it was time for trivia. Only four of us played. We had 12 correct and the winners had 14.

1)What are the two official languages of Vatican City?

2)Ben Franklin said, “Time is ____”.

3)What 1958 hit had only one word?

4)What are the two official languages of Greenland?

5)What is the official language of Ruanda?

Not many people played Name That Tune at 7 pm. Once again I played by myself and came up with 9 answers and the winners had 13. Jamm usually has a few trivia questions along with the songs so I have a few questions for you.

1)What was The Troggs most famous hit?

2)What musical instrument has pedals, a resonator (sp?), and a pillar?

3)Where was Frank Sinatra born?

4)From what stage show does the song “Mack the Knife” come?

5)What Henry Mancini song was the Grammy record of the year in 1961?

A Dutch gentleman who lives in Curacao joined our table tonight. He is on until Hong Kong. I had fruit, a tomato and mozzarella salad, fried chicken, and a cherry sundae for dessert.

I skipped the show so I can finish the blog and get to bed early for my tour tomorrow.

Tauranga is our next port.