The cruise with Mum

We have returned from our cruise around New Zealand. It was a great success and Mum had a most enjoyable time. We were a little disappointed that we did not sail out of Sydney in the daylight as expected. There were some repairs required on the propeller apparently. We just had champagne and met fellow sailors to fill in time. We then explored the ship. 

The lights of Sydney were beautiful as we passed out of the harbour

Then we were on the open seas and a large swell was rolling. That was funny as we staggered up hallways and down staircases or found the fastest lifts. Everyone had an air of excitement about the next two weeks.  I had taken the Kwells for sea sickness and they worked perfectly the whole time. We found the library and snaffled the only scrabble board for the days ahead.

We soon felt at home and after dinner went to the Blues club for music before bed. 

The rocking of the boat was very soothing and we slept well. From then on it was breakfast, scrabble, activity, ( facial, massage, walk around the deck, visit the art gallery) lunch, scrabble, dance classes, talking to people, trivia, bingo, oh! Gosh it is time for dinner! Dinner, a show and then the blues club or piano bar before bed. 

The days changed when we had shore stops. Sailing into Milford sound was quite spectacular, we saw dolphins and the tail of a whale. Next was Dusky Sound and then Doubtful Sound.

The clouds fulfilled the old name 'Land of the long white cloud'.

We saile around the bottom of New Zealand and it was incredibly rough and windy but we were comfortable. Our first port was Duneden where we went ashore and took a hop on hop off tour to cover all the best places. The botanical gardens were particularly beautiful.