Feb 2nd, 2023 Day 30 of 128

Auckland, New Zealand

Happy Groundhog Day from Auckland! It’s a little groundhog Day-ee for us as we went to visit the Auckland War Museum that we got to visit in 2020. We slept in a little this morning. The alarm went off at 7:30am and when we awoke we were already in port. A shout of to my friends on the 2023 World Cruise facebook page for the beautiful photo taken of the city lights very early this morning. The pilot boarded our ship at 4:30am to bring us in as we had to be settled in before the ferry pier next to us started their daily runs. We went to the lido for a light breakfast and then headed off on our adventure for the day. I had previously purchased a membership to the museum and made a reservation to see their special exhibit on Stonehenge. A quick Uber ride to the museum and that’s where we spent our entire day. When we were here previously, we only had about an hour and a half in the museum and today we spent 6 hours and still didn’t see it all. It was a super educational experience and Megan took lots of notes in her journal. There are several photos to share and I hope you enjoy seeing a small part of all the wonderful things we saw and learned today about the Maori, New Zealand culture and history. We Ubered back to the pier and were able to find postcards and stamps and a few more cans of Dr. Pepper for Megan. We also picked up some gifts and souvenirs as well. The shopping was plentiful for sure. We saw a couple from the ship coming back from the grocery store and they were pulling a collapsible wagon filled with their treasures for the day. They said they were shopping for a few passengers and it was an ingenious way to get around and not have to carry everything. By the time we got back on the ship we had time for a quick call home to Valerie and Mom and then it was time to get ready for dinner. We walked around a little after dinner and ran into Freddy and Bob and had a chance to talk and catch up with them. We also stopped by the spa to talk to Raquel. She works on the ship and is from Mexico and is fluent in Spanish. She agreed to meet Megan on the next sea day so they could crochet and work on Megan’s Spanish at the same time. A win win for both of them, I think. We are wrapping up our evening at home. I’m finishing my blog and thinking about what we need to get ready for our next adventure tomorrow in Tauranga, New Zealand. But you’ll have to wait to hear about it till them. Sweet dreams and good health to you all from about 6,400 miles away.

Top to Bottom Left to Right: The view at the wee early morning, the gift shop when you don’t want anything great (P.S. we found wonderful things at this shop but the name made us laugh), T Rex exhibit remind us of Night at the Museum, Egyptian Mummy and description plate, A historic Maori canoe, A touching area of the museum was dedicated to New Zealanders that had fought and died in several wars, and Cheese snacks from Indonesia and a Kiwi Lemonade because when in New Zealand….(they’re nicknamed Kiwi’s).