Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 15

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melsea
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Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 15

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Post by melsea »

Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 15

Day 47. At sea not as cloudy and no rain for a change.

24th February. Black Tie

My day was a busy one in trying to fit everything in.
This was my schedule..
1. 11am Raffle in shop. Took place in Charlie's Bar
2. 12.15 - 2pm Photography competition talk & winners. In Playhouse
3. 1.45 - 4pm Art Exhibition. Champions
4. 4.25pm Bingo
5. 10.15pm Casino Raffle

Didn't win the Raffle that the shops do for each sector.
I went to the start of the Photography competition which began with the two photographers talking about those entries from the Beginners Category followed by those from the Intermediate & the Advanced. The talk clashed with me needing to go and put my pieces of Art on the walls that go around the outside of the Casino and runs past the staircase that goes up to the Glass House. I sneaked out to go and do this. When I got back to the Photography Comp talk a lady who I sat in front of said to me they had just shown one my photos that really liked and they were complimentary she said. I did manage to see one more of mine mentioned, but I have no idea how many they had spoken of. They finished with the talk a few minutes later and they announced the highly commended & the winners. I got a highly commended which I was pleased about but still disappointed I had not won. I can't remember what the winning photo was. Suffice to say I will be entering again in the next sector. For winning you get a larger photo of your entry and a certificate with your winning photo on it. The highly commended, of which there are two in each category, also get a certificate with their winning photo inserted into it. With that all over I leg it to the Art Exhibition where I marvel at some of the other passengers art works, there were some impressive pieces and I cannot even compete, mine are not even close. Give me a camera and its a whole different ball game.
At 4.15 I went to the Bingo and no I did not win. But another couple did win. Apparently they play at every Bingo session and they buy the the 6 ticket booklet at £15 a time, I'm not what their return is on their outlay. But they enjoy themselves in the process.
In the evening the Casino Raffle was held which up til now I have never heard of it before but apparently this happens on all cruises. It's free to enter as well. Prizes were meal for two in the Glass House, A bottle of Asti Martini I think it was, £50, a dinner for two at Sindhu Restaurant and a bottle of Champange. There were two raffle call outs for two of the different colour tickets and three separate prizes for the third colour ticket. Needless to say I didn't win but one of our friends won the dinner for two at the Sindhu Restaurant. Worth trying for so I will do in the other sectors.

Day 48. Bay of Islands, New Zealand. Sunny & warm. 8am - 5.30pm
Tender boats today.

25th February. Evening Casual Dress.


Alarm awoke me at 7.35 but I didn't get up until after 8am. I had shower and went up to the Horizon for some breakfast. Before that I went down to Masquerades to get a ticket for the tender boat. I had got my bag ready and went down stairs to wait for the number range of my number which was 398. I ended up sitting with Bill at the Glass House where he was having his breakfast. While waiting with him and having a cup of tea and a Cranberry Juice the numbers were called for my tender. So off I trotted.
Got to the tender drop off in town about 18 minutes later. I made my way to where I was going to walk to the Haruru Falls. When we were here last time in 2012 I found out too late that there was a walk to the Haruru Falls so I was determined to get off early and do it this time. When I got off the tender I ended up walking towards where the Waingai Treaty park was, I had been distracted by going this way but it was probably a good thing as I was able to buy another bottle of water for my journey which I certainly needed. When I found my way to where the walk starts I began my walk come trek. Along the way I passed through some fairly dense forest and on occasions I found the path narrowed and others quite wide. In places it was flat, others were steep, also some areas were paved a little, other areas either dirt/earth or gravel like surfaces. So it made for a little bit of a challenging walk if you were not used to it or even if you didn't have the right foot wear. I did see people coming back from the walk to the falls as well as those going to it, I passed a few couples as well but I was also passed by three young lads, two of which only had flip flops on which really wasn't suitable for the trek. Something I wasn't expecting was to arrive at quite a spectacular place it was a Mangrove and there was a boardwalk winding its way through it. I wondered if the water ever came up any higher than it was. I was glad for my water, for my hat and long sleeve white blouse although I had put suncream on me I am pleased I had it with me, there was no shade anywhere. Some of the people that were coming back were from the ship. At just over one & a half hours I finally reached my destination. I hadn't been there long when a coach load of people turned up, it was none other than a P&O tour. I couldn't believe it. I had wondered if there was another way to visit the falls but it almost seemed like the hike route was the only way. I stayed around for a bit to take a number of photos and then I headed back which seem to take longer but I think with me stopping to take photos may have added the minutes and me slowing down from getting tired. I got back to where I started at 3pm, almost a 4 hour round trip. When I got back to where the tender station was I saw there was a queue and since I still had time I caught the shuttle bus into Paiha where I spent just over an hour there and then at 4.15 I went over to where I was to pick up the shuttle bus and there was quite a queue. In the queue was Jim & Marjorie, my friends who won one of the Casino prizes, Marjorie was waiting in the shade ahead. The journey is only ten minutes and on arrival our driver saw there was a long queue so decided to take us further on where we could take a photo of the ship at sea. When we did get back to the tender pick up point the queue actually got longer. While in the queue I noticed that the Captain was there, which was a bit surprising, he was reassuring the passengers and keeping an eye on the proceedings. We didn't actually have to wait very long and we had moved up the queue to be in the shade. Again like other ports, P&O provided both cold water and a cold flannel, both very welcomed especially since I had done a 4 hour trek. On our tender back the Captain joined our tender and he sat on the steps where you get on. We set sail not long after 6.30.

Harry - The Piano was the entertainment tonight, not a bad show and very different.

Day 49. Auckland, New Zealand. Warm & sunny day. 7am - 8.30pm

26th February

We have pretty much done everything here over the years and I have a friend who I worked with back in London back in the early 90's who now lives here, So we'll be meeting up with her later. Before then I got a bus to the War Memorial Museum. I got off too far ahead and had to walk back. I got wifi connected at the museum which was good as I could use the message service on my ipad to keep up to date with my friend Annabel who teachers at the University of Auckland in case my phone wouldn't work, I shall be meeting up with her later. I went into the museum which was much bigger than when I first visited back in 1988 when I did a backpack kind of trip, my first around the world trip on my own staying in YHA along the way. Now I do cruises instead!
I took a bus back into town and I walked up Queens street, the main one that leads you back straight to the ship, to try and find the art shop that our art teacher told us about of which I couldn't find. I went into a bookshop I have been into before to ask if they knew of the art shop, they didn't but there was one on the other side of Albert Park. When I came out of the book store I felt the need to cross the road and see if Bill was still at the Starbucks further up as he wasn't in the one across the way. At the point of which I crossed to the other side of the street I saw Bill coming towards me, quite something that was.
Not long after I made my way down towards the quayside as I was meeting Annabel at 2.30pm. We met down by the Quay side where we had lunch and a good natter of all things. She teachers photography and art and some other stuff I don't understand. We didn't have long but we sure packed a lot in.
Later I went to Albert Park where the Chinese had put an exhibit of Chinese lanterns. They were amazing and must have looked even better when the sun went down. There were a few that were place in areas where they were under trees and so you could see them lit up, a really excellent exhibition for The Chinese New Year.
I got back to the ship at 7pm. We set sail at around 8.45.

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Suekersh
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Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 15

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Post by Suekersh »

The day we were in Waitangi last year rained buckets apfor most of the day. We visited the treaty grounds which were very interesting. Everyone looked like drowned rats. The locals told us it was the first remain for weeks. It didn't make us feel any better knowing it had waited for our visit.

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emjay45
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Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 15

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Post by emjay45 »

I'm waiting to see if you did win with one of your photos. As I said my husband won the intermediate section with one of his and they enlarged it on canvas and put it on a frame. Of course he was pleased, and all I could think was, where are we going to pack that? :roll:

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Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 15

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Post by Dancing Queen »

I'm waiting to see if she did too emjay ... Melsea will you give us a hint :thumbup:

What a shame you two didn't meet, maybe you did in passing without realising it.
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Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 15

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Post by emjay45 »

Dancing Queen wrote:
I'm waiting to see if she did too emjay ... Melsea will you give us a hint :thumbup:

What a shame you two didn't meet, maybe you did in passing without realising it.
We probably did. I did look out for a petite person with tiny feet because, I remember melsea saying she was going to be on this cruise.

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melsea
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Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 15

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Post by melsea »

I didn't win this sector but I did get a highly recommended. Mine was of a bird in amongst yellow long leaves in the intermediate group.

emjay, I think we did pass each other lots of times, as your descriptions in your reports of you all sounds familar. It was a shame really. What picture did your husband win with?

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melsea
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Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 15

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Post by melsea »

Suekersh wrote:
The day we were in Waitangi last year rained buckets apfor most of the day. We visited the treaty grounds which were very interesting. Everyone looked like drowned rats. The locals told us it was the first remain for weeks. It didn't make us feel any better knowing it had waited for our visit.
Yes I remember it well. I got absolutely drenched. The morning was beautiful and sunny but when I decided to try to find the water fall, I hadn't gone far when the rains came. I also remember there was a tour about to go out it was just by the tender they were doing the Maori boat trip and they were drown rats before they set off. I had vowed that if ever we returned I would go and find the Waterfall which is exactly what I did, it was worth it too.

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