Rodney & Sheryl's Travels: January 2024

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

1/30-31 Auckland, New Zealand

One of our favorite places in the world - Auckland, New Zealand! Auckland is known as the "City of Sails" for its' residents' love of boating. This seafaring city has hosted three America's Cup challanges and world-class yachts are seen all along the marinas.

On our first day in Auckland, we went on a city tour. Our first stop was the Michael Joseph Savage Memorial. Michael J. Savage was New Zealand's first Labour prime minister, and their most beloved, serving from 1935 - 1940. Of his accomplishments, winning public support for his government's economic recovery policies and social welfare programs were most notable.

Our second stop was the Auckland War Memorial Museum (aka Tāmaki Paenga Hira or Auckland Museum). The Museum is regarded as one of the finest Museums in the Southern Hemisphere and is renowned for its unique collection of Māori and Pacific treasures.

On our second day in Auckland, we were on our own. We spent the day meandering along the Wynyard Quarter boardwalk on the waterfront, down to the Silo Marina and over to one of our favorite restaurants - Swashbucklers, where we ate a yummy lunch of fish and chips. The yachts in the marina were nothing short of spectacular!

Michael Joseph Savage Memorial

Auckland War Memorial Museum

Auckland War Memorial Museum - Vickers Supermarine Spitfire

Auckland War Memorial Museum - Mitsubishi A6M Zero

Auckland War Memorial Museum - Lest we forget...

"Lunasea" yacht in Silo Marina
(for a mere $56K - $59K, plus expenses, you can rent this bad boy for a week)

Rodney at Swashbucklers

Monday, January 29, 2024

1/29 Bay of Islands (Waitangi), New Zealand

Waitangi is one of New Zealand's most significant historic sites. It is where New Zealand's founding document, Te Tiriti o Waitangi (The Treaty of Waitangi) was signed on February 6, 1840 between the British Crown and more than 500 Maori chiefs. The treaty agreed the terms by which New Zealand would become a British colony.

Our tour in Waitangi began with a visit to the Hundertwasser Public Toilets in Kawakawa, New Zealand. Yes friends, you read that correctly - we went on a tour to see a public restroom. It was an interesting facility named after the architect and visual artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, who conceived and designed the project.

The next stop on our tour was Rainbow Falls and the Kerikeri Basin along the Kerikeri River. At the Kerikeri Basin, we were able to view the Mission House, completed in 1922, and the Stone Store which was built in 1832-1836 and is New Zealand's oldest intact stone building and its earliest surviving warehouse.

Us at Hundertwasser Public Toilets

Entrance to women's restroom at Hundertwasser Public Toilets

Hundertwasser Public Toilets

Rainbow Falls

Canoe at Kerikeri Basin

Kerikeri Mission House and Stone Store

Monday, January 22, 2024

1/20-22 French Polynesia

The Pacific Ocean being the largest, we had another five days at sea before reaching our next destination - French Polynesia. Thankfully, they were not as rough as our sail to Hawaii! We had three stops in French Polynesia - Bora Bora (Vaitape), Moorea (Opunohu Bay), and Tahiti (Papeete). All three islands are beautiful in their own right.

Bora Bora is 15 square miles and made up of a barrier reef of islets, each one connected to the next, depending on the tides. It is surrounded by a deep lagoon where the beautiful waters are various shades of turquoise and emerald. The island rises up from its beaches to Mt. Otemanu, standing tall at 2,385 feet. Our tour at this stop was a boat ride around the lagoons. While it was a beautiful tour, it was a wet one - a really wet one - it rained non-stop and we were drenched by the time we got back to the ship. The waters were beautiful though and stingrays and small sharks swam all around us. One of the guides even got in the water and swam with them! Unfortunately by that time, it was just too wet to try to take any more photos. We had a wonderful time, and boy did that warm shower feel good when we returned to our cabin!

Moorea lies 12 miles off the coast of Tahiti and is the remains of an ancient, inactive volcano. It was still very rainy and we opted to not take our planned tour (another boat ride). Just walked around the little island a bit and headed back to the ship.

Tahiti is an island paradise that lays claim to the invention of surfing. It has miles and miles of sandy beaches. We opted for a short walking tour of Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia, where we were taken to the Papeete Municipal Market, their Notre Dame Cathedral, and the beautiful Papeete Town Hall. Great three days in French Polynesia!

Bora Bora - Mt. Otemanu

Bora Bora - Overwater Bungalow Resort

Moorea - Rodney on deck of the Viking Sky

Tahiti - Welcome entertainment

Tahiti - Notre Dame Cathedral

Tahiti - Mural inside Papeete Town Hall

Tahiti - us on our veradah

Sunday, January 14, 2024

1/14 Oahu (Honolulu), Hawaii

Our next stop was Honolulu. Although this is one of our favorite places, we didn't really do much as we only had a few hours here. We did get some shopping for essentials that we hadn't been able to pack for our trip done at the Hale Koa Exchange and Ala Moana Center. We had hoped to have lunch at our favorite restaurant in Honolulu - Bubba Gumps (yes, there are much better ones in Honolulu, but Bubba Gumps is a special place for us). Sadly, they had gone out of business there :-(. We did find a great upper-scale food court where we enjoyed an amazing burger and onion rings, and they were televising the final Dallas Cowboys playoff game - yes, we left before the painful ending. But we acquired everything we needed to continue our trip and had an awesome day!

Banyon Tree at the Hale Koa

Honolulu Clock Tower

Harbor view from our verandah

Cargo ship leaving port

Honolulu skyline

Saturday, January 13, 2024

1/13 Nawiliwili (Kauai), Hawaii

After five (two of which were VERY rough) days at sea, we were very happy to be back on land! Had a great tour to the Kilohana Plantation where we boarded an open air train to ride through the plantation. The train took us through stands of original island crops like sugarcane and taro, as well as groves of mango, banana, papaya, pineapple, and experimental plantings of longan, cashew, hybrid mango, noni, and atamoya. The best part was stopping to feed the pigs, goats, sheep, horses and "Stiney", their very friendly donkey - all rescue animals. At the end of the tour, we were treated with beautiful music, hula dancing and Koloa Rum Mai Tais. Beautiful day and great tour!

Sailing in to Nawiliwili port

Rodney on our verandah

Boarding the train

Driving through the plantation

Driving through the plantation - Red Bull
(yes, that is his name - he has been there since being rescued as a small calf)

Driving through the plantation - feeding the animals

Entertainment

Sunday, January 7, 2024

1/7 Santa Barbara, California

In our first port of call, we chose a walking tour of the city. We saw the Old Mission Santa Barbara, the Santa Barbara County Courthouse (hailed as "the most beautiful courthouse in America" according to our guide), and walked through the streets of the city. Santa Barbara is a beautiful little college town along the Pacific Ocean backed by the soaring Santa Ynez Mountains.