Feb 5th, 2023 Day 33 of 128

Wellington, New Zealand

Today is one of those days that I feel like I am going to have way too much to write and this may be longer than intended, but I won’t leave anything out. We were up at 6:30am this morning so we could grab breakfast in the Lido before heading to meet our excursion group at 8:15am this morning. It is a little chillier this morning so we grabbed sweatshirts. We were off the ship quickly and onto out shuttle bus by 8:30am. Today we went to the Shenandoah Historic Pauatahanui Estate. I am going to attach a couple of typewritten descriptions of where we went today cause I can not give it enough honor and justice in what I am going to write. This home was originally part of a 1250 acre property that was farmed and cultivated. It was the home to an indigenous village of Maori and the sight of many battles for dominance on this area of New Zealand. Wanted for its viewpoint of the harbor and rich soil. Eventually a home was constructed here. In the 1940’s when New Zealand was in danger of being attack by the Japanese, the US government under president Roosevelt, sent an infantry of 1500 soldiers to New Zealand to help protect it from being seized. This land was the sight of the camp and trying facility for these 1500 young soldiers most of them barely 17 years old. 80% of the soldiers that were sent here went and fought at Guadalcanal and held the Japanese at bay gave their lives doing so. This land was eventually given back to the family who owned it. When the military left they left almost everything behind as the were heading overseas. Instead of taking their vehicles, like motorcycles, trucks, tanks and jeeps they buried them all in the valley of two mountains on the family’s property. But they knew they were there and shortly after they military left the New Zealanders dug them all up and learned how to work on, repairs and service the machinery that they didn’t no have access to before. The family has been using the land to raise cattle and sheep and are now in the process of returning the land back to it’s original condition so it can be preserved for future generations. It is a living museum both in the artifacts they have and continue to discover and in the barns where these items are on display for visitors to see. This is not a place that is open to the public so it is a very limited number of lucky people that have the opportunity to be blessed by visiting this beautiful place. Simon is the profiteer and part of the family that owns the land. His love and passion for his homestead kept us captivated as he told story after story passed down from his grandparents and great grandparents. We didn’t want to leave. I want to sit down with him and spend the entire day with him. Their garden are beautiful. The love they have for the land, its history and its bounty is evident in the passion he speaks about everything they do there. They make the cheese and salami we ate. They baked the blueberry bread and ginger cookies that were served to us with our tea. It was like being invited into someone’s home and having them open up their photo albums and share their rich history with us. I have many photos below of the museum which now also houses many Harley Davidson motorcycles, the gardens, their Highland cows, and a beautiful german shepherd puppy name Semper Fi. We were told over and over today thank you for being here and sharing this place with them, that we are now considered family in their Maori and New Zealand culture, and a blessing of hospitality was given to us. I left there feeling like I had been “home”, I recommend if you are ever looking for something to do away from the city, on a path less traveled this would be an amazing place to spend your day. Now as we returned to the ship and the reality of our world, we decided it wasn’t time to get back on the ship so we hopped on the shuttle and headed into town. Such a contrast to the place we had spent our entire morning. Megan and I did manage to find a shopping area built inside a 1901 building that used to house a bank and its offices. It was restored in the late 1990’s. The vault is still in the basement of the shopping center. It had a lovely cafe where I had my first coffee in weeks (decaf), Megan had a peach tea and we shared a delightful sausage rolls pastry. While we were in the shopping center looking around and eating, it rained outside and we were oblivious to it until we stepped back outside and noticed everything was wet, but the rain had subsided. Great timing. We found a grocery store and Megan found the bakery and enjoyed a HUGE pastry call a Melting Moment cookie. We walked a round a bit before heading back to the shuttle and then right back onto the ship. It was a wonderful day. So much history told with such enthusiasm and pride. So a couple of days ago I told you Ed Sheeran was in New Zealand performing. Ironically this morning we woke up and looked out our window right at the Sky Stadium where he performed. We had a lovely dinner tonight at the Main dining room tonight and received our daily report from the captain. There is a cold front approaching us with gale force winds. We will be traveling through the Cook Straits and are expecting swells of between 9 and 12 feet. Our first sea looks to the be the worst and then we will cross the Tasman Sea on our way to our next port of Sydney, Australia. We are scheduled to arrive there in three days. We set our clocks back another hour tonight, making us technically 18 hours ahead of our California friends and family (but it will still be easier for them to just minus four). I am tired after a long fulfilling day. Tummy is full, my heart is bursting with gratitude and joy, and the gentle (or not so gentle) rocking will lull me to sleep. Wishing you all precious dreams and a restful evenings sleep.