New Zealand Begins

A few days after sailing away from those little dots in the middle of the Pacific, we arrived in New Zealand.  We were docked right in the middle of downtown Auckland, NZ and I was excited for a "gourmet walking tour" that I was scheduled for.  I literally spent the morning eating and drinking.  I was with 9 guests, which is so nice and on the way to our first stop the guide informed us that coffee is a huge part of the culture in New Zealand and Australia.  MUSIC TO MY EARS!!!  I haven't had a decent cup of coffee in most ports and I was so excited.  She took us to a really cool coffee shop that reminded me of a spot in New York.  It was a really eclectic crowd and the space was very industrial looking.  And the coffee… We learned that in this part of the world, the go-to drink is the "flat white."  It was created in New Zealand and is sort of like a less-foamy latte.  The coffee was ridiculously good and I was a happy camper already.  

The tour included a stop at a local chocolate shop, a gelato stand, and my personal favorite, a cheese shop.  The store owners gave us tons of free food and the cheese was out of this world!  Triple cream bleu cheese was my favorite, although the cheddar made a pretty wicked grilled cheese sandwich.  We ended our walk by going through the city harbor to a large seafood market that had a restaurant attached.  The guide ordered us HUGE seafood platters and bottles of local New Zealand wines (some of my favorite wine in the world) and we just sat back and enjoyed the gorgeous day.  It really was the best introduction to this country.  The people were so welcoming and the food and drinks were fantastic.  After the tour I ran back to the ship, changed clothes, and headed right back out.  I headed back to that coffee shop and indulged in some free internet and good food.  Then I just walked.  It's my favorite way to explore a new destination because you can get lost and see what the town is all about.  Auckland is a really chic, cosmopolitan city.  The people here are young and fit and beautiful and the whole town has this great sense of style that you just want to be part of.  It's sophistication reminded me of New York, but it's laid-back, beachy attitude did not!  Ha!

Next we went to Tauranga, New Zealand, which I hadn't researched much, but I knew there was a small mountain near the port.  I decided to get up early and hike Mt. Maunganui, which sort of juts out from the land into the sea.  It ended up being a pretty tough, but quick hike with great rewards in the view at the top.  The path wound around and up through thick vegetation and there were tons of people climbing.  At the top I got a great view of the ship and the area we were visiting, known as the "Bay of Plenty."  It was at the top of the mountain that I could see the layout of the town and realized what beautiful beaches were nearby.  I quickly made my way down the mountain to enjoy the views and some great food on my way back to the ship.  I had to head back pretty early because the ship had arranged a crew tour!

There were about 30 of us crew that were able to head out to the movie set of Hobbiton.  This is where they filmed the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies and is where the Hobbits are said to live.  Now in full disclosure: I am not a huge Lord of the Rings fan.  I've never read the books and, in fact, I had never even seen any of the movies until the night before the tour.  I forced myself to stay up until 3:00 am in order to at least see where I was going on tour and be able to recognize some of the locales.  That extreme fantasy genre with hobbits and elves and wizards and fairies just isn't for me, but I could still appreciate the production aspect of the whole thing.  We drove about an hour away from the port through beautiful countryside before finally reaching the land of the hobbits!

When they were filming the first Lord of the Rings movie, Peter Jackson, the film's director, sent out scouts to find different filming locations and one scout was flying over this farm and spotted an area he was interested in.  He contacted the family about using the 1200 acre sheep farm because there were no buildings, no roads, no power lines to be seen…perfect for filming Hobbiton.  The family agreed and still today, they own the land and help run tours of the film set.  Peter Jackson wanted everything kept very secretive, so lots of crazy measures were taken.  New Zealand made the air over the farm a no-fly zone, the NZ army sent its troops to build a road practically overnight so that the film crew could start building and setting up.  Scores of stars and extras were brought in, sets were built, trees were uprooted and re-planted, all to fulfill the extravagant vision of Mr. Jackson.  We had a really fun day exploring the 40+ hobbit holes, including the most famous one, Bilbo Baggins' home.  We ended our time in Hobbiton at the hobbit's pub where they served drinks and really good cookies and things, but the best part of the day was just enjoying some of our last days with the crew on the ship.  They have been really special to us and over the course of our 3 months on Seabourn we have gotten extremely close with many of the crew.  Any chance we can get, we've been spending tons of time with them.  

When we got back to the ship I happened to run into town for a brief walk and I stopped at a place that had amazing looking sushi.  I picked out what I wanted and went to pay at the counter when my card just wouldn't work.  I tried different things, but I had no NZ dollars on me.  Just as I was about to put my food away, the guy behind me in line offered to pay.  I said no, thank you, but he insisted.  He said, "It wouldn't be very Kiwi of me to not pay for it.  No worries!"  The people here call themselves Kiwi and it was a perfect representation of everyone we've met.  Open and generous and kind.  It just made me all the more excited about the next ports in this country. 

Live rejoicing, 

Tripp