January 12, 2008
Ok – So it’s been awhile, I know. I had some computer trouble. Our cabin steward cleaned our carpets without warning and I had my computer under the desk on the floor. He picked it up to clean it, but put the computer back on the wet carpet and it seeped into the computer! It took it a few days to dry out…made me really nervous for a bit! So we’ll see how long it lasts from here!
I went on the Maori excursion where we went into the city of KeriKeri (pronounced KittyKitty) and saw the oldest stone building in New Zealand then it was onto the Manginangina Forest to walk through and show us some native plants to New Zealand and what the Maori’s first came across when going into the Bush. Nothing really other than GIANT trees - second largest tree to the California Redwood. It takes 8 people holding hands to reach around the entire circumference of the largest tree.
Next was the Maori tribal house where the local tribe actually meets. The South Island Maori’s allow people to come in and go through the typical protocol and visit the house, unlike the North Island Maori’s. So, we got to go in and see the inside –it was lined with intricate carvings of their typical faces signifying the sacred lives of ancestors that have been lost and the walls were lined with photographs of all the local tribe’s ancestors. Really neat to listen to them speak their native tongue and see how sacred it truly is to each of the members. I loved it!
Last stop was Waitangi Treaty Grounds where all the treaties were originally signed. There was a HUGE canoe that some of the Maori’s came to the island on. Beautiful property right along the beach!
That night we had a surprise birthday for Arnout, one of our engineers. He’s dating Christina, a cruise staff. Christina bought black lights for the OB (officer’s bar) and she filled alcohol bottles with water and dropped glow sticks in all of them so the room lit up. We all wore white t-shirts and wrote not-the-most-appropriate things on our shirts with highlighters so we all lit up! It was tons of fun! We all enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.
Didn’t get an excursion in Taraunga so I went to the gym in the morning and headed out to walk around the city for a few minutes and hit the most beautiful beach for an hour or so. The sun here is way different than back home, so an hour is a lot. Got a little burned and I had 15 sun block on – but still better then having nothing, right? The beach was beautiful though – neat to see beaches with huge trees growing all around!
My favorite place is now Picton, New Zealand. I didn’t get off the first cruise because I had IPM, but this cruise I walked around for a while. Great little city (reminds me of a town slightly bigger than Ray City, GA) – lots of local crafts and store to see and visit! So I walked around for a few hours and it was wonderful – cold but wonderful!
Today I went on the Taieri Gorge Railway. It was a train that took us through the beautiful scenic parts of Dunedin. This is how I remember New Zealand with the rolling hills and just beautiful scenery! It was a 5 hour trip with lunch, wine and tea and just a wonderful day. We opened the windows and just enjoyed the fresh air. Its times like that when I take a deep breath and remember why I love my life right now! Phenomenal day! You should see the sand spurs that they have here…they are the size of ping pong balls, but they don’t hurt – they’re quite soft and pretty colors. I took a picture if I ever get to post any!
I think that’s all for now – lots to update on, I know! I love hearing from you all so thank you for all the emails! Makes me feel loved J
Hope all is well and everyone’s New Year is going fantastically!
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Kia Ora
January 3, 2008
Day 16 out of this 18 day cruise is almost over!!! Let’s just say this many days with the same kids is a long long time! We finally got sound in Club Hal – the electrician came in and fixed it all for me J I told him he was my best friend and he just laughed at me like I was crazy! But that made my day yesterday. Our Explorations Café Manager was quarantined yesterday for 3 days, so I didn’t even work in Club Hal yesterday – I just worked in the library to help out. She’s not the most organized person – all of the shelves are out of order and it looks like a bomb went off in there – so me and a couple cruise staff got it looking pretty spectacular!
Today I went on an excursion called Kiwifruit and Tarangua Sights. (We’re in the city of Tarangua in New Zealand) We went to a place called Kiwi 360 which was a huge Kiwi Orchard that grew primarily Kiwi fruit, but had lots of the stone fruits and tons of other various fruits growing on trees. I can’t believe how amazing Kiwi’s are! They are basically a self-sufficient fruit – they never get water or have a water supply going to them, the roots just dig themselves deep enough into the ground to seek water. They have the green Kiwi Fruits and the gold kiwi fruits. I didn’t get to taste the gold, but everyone said it was delicious. There are these huge pine-looking trees growing all around the orchards to protect the Kiwi’s from the winds. I also didn’t realize that they grew just like grapes do!
After we took a tour of the Orchard, we went inside to the store (of course!), but in the Courtyard they served scones with Kiwi Jam and home made whipped cream, slices of Kiwi (that they picked back in April and they still tasted amazing!), and Kiwi Juice along with Tea. Quite a cool trip – learned a lot! Did you know that a kiwi has more Vitamin C than an orange and more potassium than a banana?
Next we headed to a winery called Mills Reef. They didn’t grow the grapes there, but at a vineyard 5 hours away. We sampled wines for about 30 minutes, but none of them really impressed me…they were all really dry! And that was really all there was to the excursion!
Other than that, life is going good….just relaxing a lot lately. The ship is a lot quieter than my last one, but I’m trying to give it a chance!
That’s all for now! Another excursion tomorrow about my favorites – the Maori’s. Will update soon!
Day 16 out of this 18 day cruise is almost over!!! Let’s just say this many days with the same kids is a long long time! We finally got sound in Club Hal – the electrician came in and fixed it all for me J I told him he was my best friend and he just laughed at me like I was crazy! But that made my day yesterday. Our Explorations Café Manager was quarantined yesterday for 3 days, so I didn’t even work in Club Hal yesterday – I just worked in the library to help out. She’s not the most organized person – all of the shelves are out of order and it looks like a bomb went off in there – so me and a couple cruise staff got it looking pretty spectacular!
Today I went on an excursion called Kiwifruit and Tarangua Sights. (We’re in the city of Tarangua in New Zealand) We went to a place called Kiwi 360 which was a huge Kiwi Orchard that grew primarily Kiwi fruit, but had lots of the stone fruits and tons of other various fruits growing on trees. I can’t believe how amazing Kiwi’s are! They are basically a self-sufficient fruit – they never get water or have a water supply going to them, the roots just dig themselves deep enough into the ground to seek water. They have the green Kiwi Fruits and the gold kiwi fruits. I didn’t get to taste the gold, but everyone said it was delicious. There are these huge pine-looking trees growing all around the orchards to protect the Kiwi’s from the winds. I also didn’t realize that they grew just like grapes do!
After we took a tour of the Orchard, we went inside to the store (of course!), but in the Courtyard they served scones with Kiwi Jam and home made whipped cream, slices of Kiwi (that they picked back in April and they still tasted amazing!), and Kiwi Juice along with Tea. Quite a cool trip – learned a lot! Did you know that a kiwi has more Vitamin C than an orange and more potassium than a banana?
Next we headed to a winery called Mills Reef. They didn’t grow the grapes there, but at a vineyard 5 hours away. We sampled wines for about 30 minutes, but none of them really impressed me…they were all really dry! And that was really all there was to the excursion!
Other than that, life is going good….just relaxing a lot lately. The ship is a lot quieter than my last one, but I’m trying to give it a chance!
That’s all for now! Another excursion tomorrow about my favorites – the Maori’s. Will update soon!
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Looking back but Stepping Forward
January 1, 2008
So my New Year’s Eve was much better than anticipated! For after hours sitting we only had 2 sign up and the other girl (well..she’s 32,so not a girl) said she’d do it because she had no interest in celebrating. So I gladly got my formal dress on and dressed up and headed out! In our Van Gough Lounge we had a huge countdown with champagne toast for the New Year. Our band was playing on the stage and people were dancing everywhere. Lots of the crew piled into the lounge too for the countdown so we celebrated together. My New Years Eve kiss was Whitney because both of our boys are elsewhere L But we had no problem enjoying ourselves.
After the countdown we headed up to the Crow’s Nest (the ship nightclub) which was abosolutely packed – but all of the cruise staff (4 of them) a few of the officers and myself were on the dance floor for about 2 hours straight. You can see the pictures start out great – we all look fresh and good and they end with our hair up and we’re sweating like crazy!!! But it’s one of the best New Year’s I’ve ever had! Finally!!!!
I must say that looking back, this is the first year I’ve ever fulfilled a New Year’s Resolution…to lose 20 pounds and be happy! I doubled it!! Woohoo! I definitely want to lose another 15-20, but for now, I’m content with keeping it off and maintaining what I’ve done already! I think my resolution for this year is just to keep up what I’ve accomplished in the last year – getting rid of the negative crap and just relying on myself for happiness! Really…at this point in my life, looking at it all – what more could a 23 year old ask for???
I hope everyone at home has a wonderful New Year’s – you guys should be celebrating in the next few hours! Enjoy it!
Happy 2008 friends!
So my New Year’s Eve was much better than anticipated! For after hours sitting we only had 2 sign up and the other girl (well..she’s 32,so not a girl) said she’d do it because she had no interest in celebrating. So I gladly got my formal dress on and dressed up and headed out! In our Van Gough Lounge we had a huge countdown with champagne toast for the New Year. Our band was playing on the stage and people were dancing everywhere. Lots of the crew piled into the lounge too for the countdown so we celebrated together. My New Years Eve kiss was Whitney because both of our boys are elsewhere L But we had no problem enjoying ourselves.
After the countdown we headed up to the Crow’s Nest (the ship nightclub) which was abosolutely packed – but all of the cruise staff (4 of them) a few of the officers and myself were on the dance floor for about 2 hours straight. You can see the pictures start out great – we all look fresh and good and they end with our hair up and we’re sweating like crazy!!! But it’s one of the best New Year’s I’ve ever had! Finally!!!!
I must say that looking back, this is the first year I’ve ever fulfilled a New Year’s Resolution…to lose 20 pounds and be happy! I doubled it!! Woohoo! I definitely want to lose another 15-20, but for now, I’m content with keeping it off and maintaining what I’ve done already! I think my resolution for this year is just to keep up what I’ve accomplished in the last year – getting rid of the negative crap and just relying on myself for happiness! Really…at this point in my life, looking at it all – what more could a 23 year old ask for???
I hope everyone at home has a wonderful New Year’s – you guys should be celebrating in the next few hours! Enjoy it!
Happy 2008 friends!
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