Thursday, January 26th

We arrive in Akaroa about 6:30 am.  Down go the anchors (which are somewhere just below us)…….it’s a good wakeup call!  Today we will be tendering into the island for some walking around.  It is a smaller city so we’ve decided not to do any excursions and just explore ourselves.  We got up and walked the Lido deck for about 45 minutes and then had a quick breakfast.  Today is “Australia Day”….It is a national holiday that commemorates the landing of the First Fleet in Sydney Cove on January 26, 1788.

We ventured off the ship and onto the tender.  By the time we got to the island it was about 10:00 am and we decided to walk up the harbor to the shops and into town.  When we started walking we heard this amazing voice singing opera and when we got up to her she was mesmerizing.  I could have watched her all day.  She looked like she was only about 20 years old but she already recorded an album. 

We walked through the town and saw the War Memorial, a Museum, and many pubs.  As we were walking back through town I noticed a trail that led up on top of the mountain.  I asked Mike if he wanted to head up to see where it went and he said sure.  Well, that backfired because I was wearing sandals and nearly slid all the way down!  While we were up there we got to see a lot of beautiful scenery and a hang glider.  We met up with Pat, Leona, Mort, Eli and many more at one of the pubs and took a rest from our climb.  After sitting for a bit we ventured to the Lighthouse and climbed up into it and cranked the handle!  It was very interesting.  The original lighthouse was at the point of the harbor until the earthquake and some of it was wrecked.  They moved it piece by piece to a new location closer to town and rebuilt it.

It was about 2:00 pm by then and we were getting hungry for lunch so we figured we’d go back to the ship and eat.  Mike napped after lunch while I downloaded more pictures and wrote in this blog.

We left Akaroa around 6:00 pm headed for Port Chalmers (Dunedin, NZ).  We just got word from the ITALIAN Captain that we will have to miss the Fiordland National Park because of severe weather and 6 meter (20 foot) swells.  This is so disappointing since we already had to miss Christ Church.  Mike and I went to Mom & Dad’s room for the cocktail party and to show everyone my picture slideshow.

Dad had decided that he didn’t want to tender in and walk around town so he stayed on the ship…..I was talking to him at the cocktail party and asked what he did all day…..I was cracking up when he said that he got a piece of pizza and a beer by the pool and watched a Genesis Concert on the large movie screen!!  That was hysterical!  He said, “those guys dressed up like clowns”!  Oh Dad you’re so young at heart.  J

We all went to dinner and to the casino for a bit…..seems to be our ritual for the evening and then off to bed.

Akaroa, NZ Fun Facts:

Population is about 4 million; Size is about 103,000 square miles.  It is in the county of Christ Church, NZ.

They have a Parliamentary Democracy and they use the New Zealand dollar.  They speak English and Te Reo Maori. Some Maori words are:  Welcome (Haere mai), Hello (Kia ora), Good-bye (Haera ra).  It is located in the “South Island” of NZ.  The Ngai Tahu tribe was the leading group to settle in this region in 1832.  Some of the local foods are seafood, lamb, kiwi fruit and hokey pokey ice cream (which Mike and I had!).  It is like a butter brickle.