Our Personal Groundhog Day

On Wednesday, April 19, we arrived in Auckland, New Zealand, for the last time on this trip.  We hadn’t arranged any excursions as we’d spent time here on our own.  We’d decided to walk around town.  So we walked, and took care of some business.  I wanted a haircut, and we found a sign for what appeared to be a small place, up a little, narrow stairway.  It was very small, a couple of chairs, one guy working.  Hmmm.  You always have to wonder.  But I got a haircut, and the guy did a great job. 

This photo is for my good friend, Mike Sweet.

Our next order of business was to find a store with what was our favorite yogurts.  We did, and sat and ate them on a bench outside a fitness gym where we could watch all the young people going in and out at about noon …  It was like heaven as they make some awesome yogurt here.  They should as one of their main exports is dairy products. 

New Zealand produces about 200 pounds of butter and 143 pounds of cheese per person each year.  Considering that just Auckland has about a million-and-a-half people, that's a lot of dairy.  And don't forget, for the approximately four million people on New Zealand, there are nine sheep for each.  So, dairy and lamb.  And lots of timber.  And kiwi.  Yum. 

Auckland is known as the “City of Sails” as there are about 135,000 yachts and launches in the harbor, more per capita than any other city in the world.  We had wandered down by Queen’s Wharf and Prince’s Wharf and various docks and walked around a lot of them, and then up and down the various walkways.  It was a nice walk with lots to see.  We ended up walking about 7 miles and I was ready to get back to the ship. 

This was pretty cool spinning art, with the Sky Tower in the background.  It didn't even squeak as it turned in the wind.

I'm not exactly sure what type of monument this was, but it looked kind of like a chariot or maybe a sheep head to me.  I chose to think of a chariot.

We found another fence with locks.  This one seemed to be a fence of love.

Awwwwww.

And then there they were ... beach chairs.  They roll on railway tracks if you want to move them, but I think they were made for giants.

What I found out today was that the step counter on my phone would work without actually being on the Internet.  So I used it and now I’ll be keeping track, even on the ship.

So long, New Zealand.  We loved you and will be back again.

April 20 arrived.  The first one.  As we’re across the International Dateline we get the same day twice.  I’ve continued to play cards and am enjoying it a lot.  Guess I need to find some card players when I get home.  For winter, that is.

Anyway, I signed up for a lip syncing competition.  We had to choose a song, and I picked “Big Spender” by Peggy Lee.  There are about seven or eight acts, that include “Chantilly Lace,” “Like a Virgin,” “Respect,” and “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”  It should be great fun, especially since I’ve never done it before.  We’ll have several rehearsals and then a show where the audience picks their favorite.

One of our group was unhappy because we didn’t get to use the show crew’s props and costumes.  A couple in the lounge where we were rehearsing left in a huff because we were playing loud music, although our director, Mikey, had made an announcement we’d be doing so.  And we were done in probably less than an hour.  Oh well.  We had a great time playing.

I’ve also started going to beginning hula and have learned we’ll be doing a show later on in the cruise.  I’m barely finding time to walk the decks and go to the gym.  But weight wise, I’m holding my own, and am even down a little.  So I’m happy.

Of course, to offset any possible weight loss, we had dinner in one of the paying venues tonight, The Crown Grill, with Vangie and Mike .  It’s excellent and where can you get filet mignon and other wonderful food for $29?  We were glad we’d sprung for it.  And will do it again before we leave the Beautiful Emerald Princess.

Like the movie, “Ground Hog Day” we’re reliving April 20 again.  The movie repeats it multiple times and I’m hoping we only do it twice.  Haha.  We crossed the International Dateline again and got back the day we lost.  In fact, we got a certificate.  More paper I have to keep.

Another at-sea day dawned on April 21, but it was full.  There was hula, lip sync practice, and now ukulele lessons.  I want to learn that, too.  The ukulele folks are going to play a couple of songs with the hula group, so it should be quite a show.  I’m excited.