South Pacific - Auckland, New Zealand

 Enjoying Auckland!

We started our epic trip to the South Pacific by flying from home to Auckland, New Zealand via Los Angeles. Long flight? Yes! We made the best of it and tried to look forward to the end of the flight rather than the 13+ hours in the middle :)

We were greeted upon arrival with weather that made us think of...home. Cool and damp with a little wind. Just like Seattle when we left! Our arrival at the airport was uneventful (even with the lingering anxiety that we may have missed something that needed to be declared) and we quickly found an Uber to our hotel on the waterfront.

We decided to walk around a bit to try to address jet lag and found some cool places to explore during the upcoming rainy days. A cyclone was headed our way and we knew the weather wouldn't be very pleasant before our ship's departure. Little did we know, the cyclone would change almost everything about the first half of our cruise's itinerary.

The Ferry Building anchors the Auckland waterfront.

Truth!

It was not that warm, they are just adventurous!

The Sky Tower dominates the Auckland skyline and serves as a good navigation beacon anywhere in the city.

Our friends, Ken & Karlene, arrived a later and we were eager to meet up with them. It was a wet, windy day and we spent some time exploring the New Zealand Maritime Museum that was right next to our hotel. The museum has a large range of maritime displays covering the history of the south Pacific area. The most notable display is probably the NZL-32 (Black Magic), the revolutionary sloop that famously won the 1995 America's Cup for New Zealand.

Black Magic - inside the New Zealand Maritime Museum.

Our third day n New Zealand was spent exploring Hobbiton - the iconic setting where portions of the Hobbit and Lord Of the Rings movies was filmed. The area was restored to its original condition following the LOTR filming. The current area was used for The Hobbit and the property owners decided to maintain it as a tourist attraction. We had a great time and the cloudy, rainy weather actually made it more enjoyable!

Let's explore Hobbiton!

Hobbiton.

Inside one of the Hobbiton houses. Most of the houses were actually just a door and front of the house for movie purposes. There were only a few that had an inside area.

A cloudy day kind of adds to the mood.

This should look familiar to avid Hobbit movie fans :)

Our final full day in Auckland was spent enjoying Waiheke Island and its many wineries. We caught a ferry over in the morning and used the hop on/hop off bus ot get around. Wine tasting started before lunch and continued throughout the day! This was the best weather day of the trip so far and a wonderful day to spend exploring the island.

One of many ferries taking passengers from Auckland to several smaller islands around the harbor.

A wonderful view of the Auckland skyline on the nicest weather day so far!

Let's do this!

This would be a wonderful way to get around Waiheke Island...if we weren't enjoying the wine so much :)

Lunch was enjoyed along the beach.

Sights of Waiheke Island.

Putting In A Few Miles

 I decided to go enjoy the weather on our side of the mountains and head south into northwest Oregon to collect a few stops for some rallies I am (kind of) participating in this year. I have a new bike now - a 2023 Triumph Tiger 1200 GT Pro - and am working to get used to the different riding style. So far I like the feeling of being more connected to the road on this bike, but a new seat is needed as this ride stretched the limits of my tolerance!

564 miles on a mostly sunny day with OK traffic on a Saturday - perfect! I enjoyed some "alone time" near Mt St Helens. The Johnston Ridge Visitor's Center is still closed because of a huge landslide a few years ago, thus traffic is pretty minimal all the way up and back. Just some people headed back and forth to campsites. The mountain was out but hazy conditions persisted, likely caused by nearby fire smoke.

After Mt St Helens and a brief stop for lunch, I was off to explore WA-4 west of Longview. This is a fun section of road that doesn't see too much traffic because US-30 is on the other side of the river in Oregon and is more used. I wanted to enjoy the little ferry that crosses the Columbia River from Cathlamet, WA as I headed south into Oregon. It is a cash-only, small car ferry with hourly service. The crossing takes roughly 15 minutes. I am not sure it saved me any time, but it was fun to get off the bike and enjoy the scenery.

My first obstacle of the day - the shortcut I wanted to use was closed through Timber, Oregon and I had to backtrack a bit to get down to OR-6 for my final stop of the day. The trip down through Vernon, Oregon was just as entertaining as I remembered and it gave me a good chance to feel the new bike in some tighter corners. For those who haven't enjoyed OR-47 from US-30 down through Vernon to US-26, give it a try!

A good day! Bike behaved well, weather was good and I stopped several times to enjoy the day :)

Mt St Helens was out - as seen from the Castle Lake Viewpoint.

My new bike!

One of my PNWGT checkpoints - a covered bridge near the Columbia River.

The little Cathlamet car ferry :)

My last PNWGT checkpoint along OR-6 in northwest Oregon.

Canary Island Cruise - Day 3 (Santa Cruz de Tenerife)

 Santa Cruz de Tenerife

 We spent our first full day at sea and arrived in Santa Cruz de Tenerife the next morning. Our group had made the decision to try to get out and enjoy areas without using cruise organized excursions as much. This was our first try and we had mixed results, but overall the experience was enjoyable.

We left the ship on foot and headed out to our first stops - a collection of places highlighted in a "must see" list we found on the Googs. It was a warm day and we had to stop a few times for refreshment in the form of Spanish wines :)

The three highlights of the day included watching Jeannette get trapped in a self-cleaning public toilet while it went through a cleaning cycle, eating in a local restaurant and enjoying some local cuisine, and a nice visit at a large fountain as the sun was headed down.

All-in-all it was a good day with lots of good scenery and a chance to experiment with our primitive Spanish skills!

I finally captured the Pilot vessel taking on some large swells.

Welcome to Tenerife!

A fountain in the middle of Parque García Sanabria. This park was huge!

The infamous public toilet...Jeannette's story is legendary :)

Tourist activity - photo op!

Plaza de España - built in 1929, the city's largest square includes the ruins of a historic fort & an artificial lake.

Santa Cruz at night.

Canary Island Cruise Day 1 - Embarkation and Departure

 

Our itinerary for the Canary Island cruise on NCL Dawn.

And off we go! It was time to get going after a few enjoyable days in Lisbon and we eagerly boarded Norwegian Dawn for an evening departure. We didn't depart until around 8pm and enjoyed a nice dinner in the Mexican specialty restaurant onboard before going outside to enjoy the nighttime views.

There was some kind of military ceremony happening on the pier adjacent to the ship and we enjoyed watching for a bit. I sympathized with the people in uniform as it was a warm day and they were in the sun the entire time. It looked like some kind of award ceremony (if I were to guess).

The transit out of Lisbon included a trip under the "Golden Gate" bridge, and the sound was unbelievably loud! The bridge deck was a metal grate instead of pavement and the howling of tires was the only thing we could hear for a solid 30 minutes.

Getting ready to board NCL Dawn :)

Fresh made guacamole at the Mexican specialty restaurant...and margaritas!

A ceremony on the pier adjacent to our ship.

The color guard conducting honors.

The National Pantheon - a 17th century baroque church turned into modern day mausoleum for tombs of national celebrities (according to Wikipedia).

Another view of the Praça do Comércio, this time at night and from the water.

Lisbon, Portugal

And we were off!

An early morning flight out of Seattle that connected through JFK awaited us. We had spent the night in a hotel near the airport to allow a few more hours of sleep in the morning. We did not plan for the super fast flight to JFK and our 4 hour layover turned into 5 hours of wandering the airpot and watching movies (and continuing my crash course in Spanish!). It was so nice to arrive at an airport early and go to the gate instead of waiting on the tarmac until a gate opened up (you suck, SEATAC).

We arrived in Lisbon around 8am on the next morning. Our friends, Ken & Karlene, had been in Lisbon for a week already and we just needed to make our way to the hotel to meet up with them. Clearing customs and immigration was super easy and we grabbed an Uber and made our way uneventfully to the hotel. It was a beautiful ride with all the typical historical sights along the way. I am always amazed at the extensive collection of historical buildings and monuments in Europe!

Our hotel was fantastic! We got checked in, met up with K&K and enjoyed a wonderful breakfast before heading out on foot to explore and force our bodies into the new time zone. No sleep! I happened to glance out of our room and discovered this amazing view :)

The view from our hotel in Lisbon!

Wandering the streets of Lisbon was very enjoyable and we covered a lot of ground on Saturday. Our initial route took us towards Commerce Square and the Tagus River.

These venders were roasting chestnuts and the carts were all over the place!

The Elevator of Santa Justa - a tourist trap!

Hmmm...should I be concerned?

A typical Lisbon street with Commerce Square visible through the arch.

A beer museum? Genius!

Commerce Square.

Look like San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge? It should - the same designer was hired! We later crossed underneath it and the noise from traffic was very eerie!

One of several government buildings flanking Commerce Square - this one if the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

A side view of the Lisbon Cathedral's bell towers.

Ummm...no thanks!

The Column of Pedro IV is a monument to King Peter IV of Portugal and the Algarves, located in the centre of Rossio Square in Lisbon, Portugal.

We walked up the hills around the Cathedral and enjoyed some beautiful vistas!

We stopped for refreshments as we climbed a series of winding, narrow roads to get to a church and viewpoint above the city. The streets were cobblestone and the traffic was crazy (not heavy, just unpredictable)! The view from the church grounds was spectacular! After making our way up via roads, we went back down on a much faster (but foul smelling) set of stairs that would not meet any ADA requirements that I know of...

Hiking hills on the way up and taking the stairs on the way down. The smell of urine was powerful...LOL!

A little closer look at the memorial outside our hotel room.

Dinner was enjoyed at a nearby restaurant with traditional tapas and wine. It was very good!

It had been a long day and I we were ready to collapse on the bed and try to get some sleep. Overall, our plan to reset our internal clocks seems to have worked and we had a great first day in Lisbon.

Day 2 - Sunday

We had plans to use a local tour company to explore outside of Lisbon on Sunday - our destination was Sintra and Cascais with a stop at a palace and some free time for food and shopping in Cascais. The first challenge was learning how to use the shower in our very European bathroom. One question I have never resolved is why the Europeans seem to insist on having a shower door that only covers half the opening...

We met up with our guide and headed out of the city into the hills west of Lisbon. It was kind of gray and damp in the morning but we were excited to see the Palace grounds. The National Palace of Pena is a UNESCO Heritage Site and one of the "Seven Wonders of Portugal" - it lives up to expectations. It was pretty busy the day we toured, but our group included pre-paid tickets and we went right through the line and into the Palace without issue.

Awaiting entry into the National Palace of Pena in Sintra, Portugal.

The palace from the outside as we walked up the hill.

The entry gate with symbology everywhere!

A view of the area from high up on the terrace.

Palace of Pena.

After our visit at the Palace of Pena we took a ride into town and had an opportunity to stroll the streets and enjoy some local food. The return to our hotel stopped at the westernmost point in continental Europe.

We stopped at this little pastry shop on the advice of our guide. It did not disappoint!

The western most point in continental Europe - Cabo Da Roca.

An example of the beautiful street signs in Cascais.

Tapas for dinner? Yes, please :)

Portugal was a wonderful visit and we were very happy to have added a few days before our cruise to explore a little.