Hobbiton

Wednesday 7th March

Picton today and though it was raining we had a good excursion to a Maori cultural Centre.  It was about an hour drive to the Centre where we were met off the bus and instructed how to answer the chiefs greeting. It was very interesting and after the presentation we were given morning tea and were able to chat to the three adults and two children that had performed for us. 

The following day we were moored in Wellington but we stayed on ship and generally relaxed, walking, eating, reading and doing a jigsaw with other passengers in the library.  

Napier supposedly to be the port after Wellington but weather not conducive to using tenders so the port was bypassed altogether and we continued to our next point of call Tauranga.

Saturday 10th March

We awoke as were were docking at Tauranga - largest port in New Zealand. The weather today was great - sunny and quite warm. I had a trip to Hobbiton but Robin stayed on the ship - he has never read Lord of the Rings or seen the movie.

It was a great excursion - and it was popular - there must have been several hundreds going through the site. The Hobbit houses were lovely, very well done with pretty and well kept gardens in front of them. 

Back at the boat we had the news of a change in our course.  Instead of going on to Auckland and then rounding New Zealand after Waitangi and returning to Sydney, we will be retracing our course to Napier. This is because there is a cyclone across the northern tip of the country. Cruise ships do not head into cyclones! After a day at Napier we will then go through the Cook Straites and return to Sydney for the second part of the cruise into Polynesia.