We packed up and left Sydney. We took the airport express train, which we are getting very good at and arrived at the airport early. It was good we were there early, as we waited in the wrong ( long) line for a half an hour. When we got to the right line , we learned that our travel agent had booked us on such a level of economy that we each had to pay $120 to check one bag. Not happy! This continued on the plane when everyone else had a nice lunch with wine or beer, and we were only able to get coffee, tea, or water! Imagine our combination or frustration and laughter over this! Anyway, we made it to Auckland, took Super Shuttle to our hotel, then headed out for dinner at Tony's Steak house, which was very good. We arrived in Auckland to very cool and windy weather, so the next morning we headed out to find a jacket for me. We found a great outdoor store, MacPac, that was having a great winter sale and I was able to buy a wonderful lightweight warm jacket. I have been wearing it a lot! We had time to explore a little of Auckland on foot before heading off to board the Oosterdam.
Auckland is a nice, small, city. Everything is clean and there are some beautiful old buildings amongst the new ones. There was great shopping! That seems to be the case everywhere!
Our introduction to our cruise was standing in line for about two hours to check in and go through customs. Whew! Not fun. We finally got to our room, which is OK, with a great small deck. We left Auckland at about 4:30 and set out for our first stop at Tauranga.
Since things had been going really well for us, it was time for something to happen, so on our first night out I broke a tooth! First thing next morning, I went down to the Medical Center to see if they could help me. The Medical Center is in the bowels of the ship. Hard to describe it! Looked like an old exam room at the old Mercy Hospital in Baltimore where I went to Nurses training. Anyway, after a strange conversation with Nurse Ratchett, who informed me that it was Saturday, as if I did not know that, and they would not be able to find a dentist open, I asked her to please try. About a half hour later I had a message in my room that I had an appointment at 2:30 that afternoon. I was able to have a filling put in that should last for a while! What a pleasant surprise the trip to the dentist turned out to be! And they took my credit cardfor payment! The dentist office had Saturday and Sunday hours. My dentist was wonderful, did not hurt me one bit.
So, that chapter turned out really well.
I was able to see a little more of Tauranga and take a great and beautiful hike. The novocaine took a while to wear off, but finally emerged from the novocaine fog at about 7pm. Flo and I had gone to see "the desolation of Smoag" on ship. Thought we should see it since we are in New Zealand and so close to the shooting location. This was the first time I sat throughout the entire movie, although the I did have a little snooze. After the movie we had a really nice late dinner.
The moon appears to be full. So it is beautiful outside tonite.
On my next post I will write about the ship.
I added some pictures here. They are not in order! Enjoy!
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