Helen and Tony's Travels

So what next.

Nothing until January 2016. Then the big one. South Africa here we come.

We will start the trip on January 4th with a 4 day Western Aust coastal, followed by a 46 nighter all the way to South Africa and back.

The Ports, with the exception of Singapore which we have been to twice now, are all new to us.

I am contemplating starting a brand new blog page for this trip and include my preparations. we will see.

Filling in the Blanks

So Tassie trip on the Dawn (December 2014)has been and gone. Hated it ...TOO...Too short. Never do that short a cruise again. ahh the exception to the rule, only if a B2B.

March 2015 had us doing New zealand yet again. Our cruise buddies from our Hawaii trips Ross and Lesley invited us to join them. SO WE DID. Sorry no blog while travelling.

75 days and counting down

Today I booked cars for Burnie and Hobart. Had to do Burnie by phone, they do not have their downtown pickup point listed online. Thought we would be catching local buses, but problem solved with one quick call to Avis.

New Countdown

Tasmania here we come. Leaving Melbourne on 11th December. 2014 for 5 nights on the Dawn Princess.

Auckland

Wednesday February 12th, 2014

We rode the local bus today for well over an hour. We saw such a lot of the suburbs. When we had done the huge loop we returned to the ship for lunch.
In the afternoon we took a ferry ride.

Tauranga

Tuesday February 11th, 2014

Our only plan for today was to walk around Mount Maunganui. We did just that...it is used by the locals as a walking/running path.
We then caught the shuttle to Tauranga and looked in the shops.

Napier

Monday February 10th 2014

Today we took the shuttle to the township and just wandered. Lovely little Art Deco town.

Wellington

Sunday, 9th February, 2014

Cold and windy in Wellington....we walked to the CBD..took 20 chilly minutes. Nothing planned for this port, but we did do the Cable car again. It is only a 5 min ride each way but the track is very steep. The botanical gardens are at the top...but the weather just too chilly. The view over the city lovely, but would have been better without the cloud cover.

Akaroa

Saturday, 8th February, 2014

Today we swam with Hector's dolphins. These little dolphins are on the endangered species list. We bobbed about in the ocean wearing wetsuits and we're lucky enough to have a pod of about 6 swim around us. As they are wild creatures the interaction is entirely up to them.....

Dunedin, New Zealand

Friday, 7th February, 2014

Dunedin.....what a lovely place....we did a private bus tour with Good Company Tours. Well worth the $35 pp.
The ship docked in amongst the timber.

Fjordland, New Zealand

Thursday, 6th February, 2013

An absolutely perfect day for sailing through the Fjordlands of New Zealand. Milford this morning and Thompson, Doubtful and
Dusky this afternoon. The picture is of Thompson Sound.

Noumea

Thursday 30th January, 2014

Forcast: Partly cloudy High 25C

We were taken by bus to the Cruise Terminal and there we bought tickets for the Hop On Hop Off bus with a water taxi fare included...$25 each.
We took the HOHO to the Duck Island water taxi stop and taxied to the island.
This is the place to go for snorkelling in Noumea. Tony went quite a way out and was delighted by what he saw...I could not get out as far as I can no longer wear my flippers they are too tight and make my toes numb after wearing them for a short time.. the current was too strong for Tony to tow me so I stayed closer to shore...but...what I did see was pretty good. We will certainly do this again if we ever come to Noumea again.

Suva

Tuesday 28th January,2014

Forcast: Cloudy high 31C

Stayed on the ship.
We spent the entire day by and in the Pool on deck 12.
A perfect way to spend the day in Suva.

Port Denarau

Monday January 27th

Forecast: Partly cloudy High of 30C

Wonderful Blue skies with scattered white clouds...glorious
We were collected front the ship for our tour to 'South Sea Island' by Catarmaran.
Upon arrival at the island we had a drink and found a place to leave our gear...then into the water to snorkel.
Not the best snorkelling but you have to take what you can get. Just as we got out the water a boat was loading for a trip to the outer reef so we got on and were taken on a guided snorkel. This was a better spot.

Lunch was ready when we returned...BBQ meats and salad...wonderful.

More snorkelling after lunch and then back on the Catarmaran for the return trip.......the weather changed...lightning....rain....rain...oh well we had perfect weather on the island so we did not care.

Vila...

Saturday 25th January

Forecast: Sunny estamated high of 29C
This was are first Port of call. I booked a tour before leaving home with Island Time Kayaking. We were met at the gate of the wharf by Kym and driven a short distance to meet our guide for the morning, Thomas. It was just us two and Thomas. We put on our life jackets...stowed our snorkel gear in the kayaks and off we paddled. We chose singlel kayaks as Kym's husband calls the doubles "divorse" kayaks. i tend to think that may have been right. We did very well in our own kayaks...It was a rather warm morning and Tony cooled himself by wetting his cap in the water...I settled for dipping my arms in.
We paddled past the ship and past the town...3/4 way around Iririki Island. This is a resort island. We landed our kayaks on the island and went for a snorkel. The weather changed..it rained...no problem we were wet already.
on our return trip we paddled around yet another island and we were grateful for the cooling rain.
Kym was waiting for us back on land with a lovely array of fresh fruits ,that she had purchased at the local markets while we were gone.
This tour cost us $45 each and was great. We would do it again.Not as strenuous as we thought it might be.

Back to the ship and after a quick change of clothes we made a quick visit to the town.

20 days to go.

The suitcases are out ...the list is printed. 20 sleeps and we will be sailing. Oh so close now.

30 days and counting. Down that is.

Sunday 22nd December, 2013

30 more days til we sail.

No packing started....I have thought about it but not going to start til next week ....otherwise I will be packing and re-packing and re-packing.

40 days til the next cruises

In 40 days we will once again board the Sea Princess for our first of two cruises. On January 22nd 2014 we will leave Brisbane and sail to Fiji. Upon our return on February 2nd we will stay on and head to New Zealand. I get to celebrate another birthday on board a ship and of course it is also our wedding anniversary.

I know I did not finish off the last cruise. But... it is hard at the end..and we only went to Suva and Noumea again....nothing new was seen or done. Will try to find something this next cruise as both places are on the itinerary.

Pago Pago

Sunday, 12th May, 2013

A group of 13 of us from the facebook roll call did a tour to Tisa's Barefoot Bar. What a lovely place...could easily stay here for a while.