Day 25 – February 8, 2011 – Auckland, New Zealand

The Captain had announced the night before that he was going to try and make it to Auckland early since there was another ship coming in and he wanted to be docked first.  Also, since the cruise ship docks surround the ferry docks, all ships have to be docked before 7:00am so that the ferry service is not interrupted.   Fred checked and we were docking at 6:00am.  Jan looked out about 6:30am and saw the P&O Pacific Dawn coming in.  The Voyager docked at the Princess Wharf.

Jan walked two miles in a very pleasantly cool morning as the sun came up over Auckland.  The past two days at sea, the walks had been not so hot until the sun came up and then the last 5-6 laps were definitely on the warm side.

Today we are going to get off and do a little shopping.  Since the ship docks right in town, it is an easy place to pick up anything you are missing or need.  We walked up

Queen Street

, taking our time so Fred could rest when he needed to.  Then we walked back down to the shopping center closest to the ship, and found everything on our list.

We walked the short distance to the marina where the racing yachts are displayed.  It is a place full of restaurants and bars.  For the third time, we had lunch at Kermadec, a very nice seafood restaurant with a 3^rd floor view of the marina.    We took our time over lunch with Fred enjoying the Yellow Tail Kingfish that is famous in New Zealand’s waters and Jan enjoying a good Fish & Chips that was “crumbed” not breaded.  After lunch, it was back to the ship for a nap.

This evening we left the ship with Tom and Martha for a sailing dinner cruise.  Our friends on the ship teased us that we were getting off our ship to go to dinner of a very small sailing ship.  The ship was called the Pride of Auckland Defender, a purpose built sailing ship that is designed just to take tourists around the Bay and serve a catered dinner.  Dinner was from the same restaurant that we had had lunch in and it was very good.  After dinner, they crew motored out of the marina and then put up the sail.  It was a cloudy night but the winds were not too high and we sailed for just over an hour.  Everyone got a chance to “drive” the boat.  Since Fred and Jan are not sailors, it was a treat to actually sail without the sound of a motor.