Spent the day on a tour of the Banks Peninsula and Christchurch. Akaroa, on the Banks Peninsula is about 90 minutes from Christchurch and is the location for cruise ships to anchor and tender passengers to shore to tour Christchurch and the surrounding area. Ships had previously docked at Lyttleton, closer to Christchurch, but the piers there were badly damaged by the 2011 earthquake. The Banks Peninsula and Akaroa Harbour offer fantastic scenery. The tour wa...

Dunedin was settled by Scottish immigrants and the Scottish history is very evident. it is the oldest city in New Zealand. The population is about 120,000. It is home to the University of Otago with 20,000 students. It also is a large agriculture centre. One of the attractions is Cadbury World with a tour of the chocolate plant (presumably based here because of the dairy industry). Our day was seriously hampered by the weather - it rained all day, so we did...

Two days at sea before arriving in New Zealand today. We spent the day cruising the fiords of the Fiordland National Park. The weather was not optimal (clouds that blocked the mountain tops and little sun) but no rain. In spite of the weather, the fiords of the South Island are quite scenic. We cruised five fiords (or Sounds). This is the one part of New Zealand we did not see when we were here in 1985, so it, and Dunedin, were the two spots we wanted to tou...

Left`Sydney on Jan. 4. A day cruising before reaching Melbourne. We had planned on going ashore but the weather was not great and, since we had been in Melbourne on our earlier cruise, we gave it a pass and stayed on board. Another day of cruising before arriving in Hobart today. Wandered around the downtown for a few hours. Nice enough little city - great harbour setting - but nothing that particularly stands out. The interesting parts of Tasmania are out ...

Boarded the Diamond Princess today for our 12 day cruise to New Zealand. Our first time on Princess, although we have cruised Holland America many times. This is a larger ship then others we have been on and the layout is a lot more complicated. But it is much newer. The room (verandah) is quite nice. Compared to the Holland America ship we were on 2 months ago, this room is a bit smaller with a smaller bathroom, but better closet space. Several dining rooms...