Tien and Paul's Travels: Trans-Pacific Cruise - 2018

It's getting more exciting after we left Pago Pago for our next port of call: New Zealand. The first full day was at sea before crossing the International Date Line 12:00pm - 1:00pm on October 11, and the last sea day before Auckland. During those days at sea, we attended many lectures to learn about the history, geography and the Maori culture. It's very interesting to visit this side of the world for the first time. One evening at sea, our ship made a medical emergency. We detoured to Cook Islands' port of Rarotonga to evacuate a patient from our ship. Rarotonga port has good amenities for our big ship to dock and medical attention for the patient.

A formal evening

With Captain Aldo Traverso

AUCKLAND

On october 14, we docked in Shed 10 (historic cargo shed) cruise terminal in Auckland, NZ. It was a cold early-spring morning when we arrived. No tropical climate anymore!. We look forward to explore Auckland, our first north island port of call.

Near the port terminal, we bought tickets for Hop-on, Hop-off bus tour to sight see Auckland. We got off at a few attractions to take pictures and enjoy the scenery. The highlight stop was the Aeriel View Museum and Park in Auckland Domain, a beautiful and impressive park. Around noon, we stopped at a big shopping mall for lunch and for me to buy a "winter" coat. It's the best decision I made that day!. The heavy coat was very handy for the rest of my time in New Zealand and Sydney later.

Shed 10, Auckland Cruise Terminal

Ready for our Auckland sightseeing tour

Auckland Port Terminal

View of the famous Sky Tower from the ship

Orakei-Bastion Point- Michael Joseph Savage Memorial

Auckland Waikumete Cemetery

Mid afternoon we took a ferry ride to Devonport from Auckland. This is a last stop from our hop-on, hop-off bus tour. Devonport is a harborside suburb of Auckland. It's a quaint beach town with nice shops and restaurants within walking distance from the ferry terminal. Returning from Devonport, we still had about an hour to check out the big shopping district in the new dowtown at the bottom of Queen Street.

Auckland from Devonport ferry ride

Devonport ferry ride and my new coat.

Devonport Ferry Terminal

The Esplanade Hotel

Beach at Devonport Wharf

Our Trivia team mates: Nancy and Brent

TAURANGA

Our second stop in New Zealand was Tauranga, on the East Coast of North Island. Tauranga is in the Bay of Plenty region, settled by the Maori in the 13th century. Our ship docked alongside Mount Maunganui Berth, in the beautiful Tauranga Harbor. We took a long walk around Mt. Maunganui. Later, from Maunganui town center, we caught the bus to Tauranga business center to visit some tourist attractions: the Elms Mission House and Robbins Park. We also stopped at a library to use the internet connection.