We enjoyed our time in Auckland, even with all the rain and wind, but now it was time to board the Norwegian Spirit for our trip through New Zealand and across the Tasman Sea to Australia. We were on board for less than a day when the ship's Captain announced big changes to the first half of our itinerary caused by the cyclone that was approaching the North Island.

We have grown Leary of the excursions provided by the cruise ships these days. the big groups, long bus rides and little time for anything on your own make the experience less than enjoyable, and the prices seem excessive to us. We booked almost everything on this cruise on our own using public transit, third party tours (like Viator) and our feet. It was fantastic! There is a lurking catch in this approach. If a port call is cancelled and you don't know until the night before, for example, you may end up eating your third party tour fee. The other pitfall is that the ship will not wait for you if your tour returns late. The first has happened to us, the second can be managed by how you select your tour time. My advice - don't sweat it and just enjoy the broader range of options and smaller group sizes!

Our original itinerary. We wound up with Wellington (overnight) and Lyttelton.
Everything else in or around New Zealand was removed.

Our hotel from the ship - it was a very nice location!

Wellington, New Zealand

The ship booked it down to Wellington and we stayed in port overnight and through the next day to ride out the brunt of the storm. We spent day one in Wellington making our way from place to place to avoid the rain and heavy winds. Day two was MUCH nicer and we enjoyed some time outdoors exploring local trails and memorials.

Red sky in morning, sailors take warning...approaching Wellington for our overnight stop to
wait out the cyclone.

When in Wellington...the Bomber roast was indeed bomb!

A break in the rain for a photo op :)

Local artwork on a building along the Wellington waterfront.

Enjoying the better weather outside on the trails around Wellington.

Richard Byrd memorial on Mount Victoria. We earned lunch on this hike!

Lyttelton, New Zealand

Next up was a day in Lyttelton, which actually means a day in and around Christchurch. We had a great time visiting a wildlife park and wandering around for lunch and snacks. We used advice from internet searches to use a public bus to get over to Christchurch and then Uber in and around the city. The bus took us back to the area near the ship with a stop at the Christchurch Gondola for some awesome views of the surrounding areas. The public bus was a way better option - more times, much less expensive than the option provided by the cruise ship.

A visit to a Christchurch wildlife park.

She obviously enjoyed herself :)

The largest living rodent - the Capybara!

A nice area in Wellington to enjoy lunch.

A wonderful view of Lyttleton and our ship from the top of the Gondola.

A view of Christchurch from the top of the Gondola.

Tasman Sea Crossing

Now the fun begins. Everything else in New Zealand is off the table so the ship could have a few extra days to transit the Tasman Sea. The ship's master had said ti was going to be rough. How rough? Rougher than I have seen on any cruise we have been on. 30 foot seas, high winds that kept most of the weather decks off limits or not usable. But safe. All 2,000+ of us were very happy to see the Melbourne skyline on the fifth morning!

One fun part of the journey was the appearance of small groups of albatrosses gliding over the waves. It was tough to get good pictures because the spray from the waves was reaching all the way up to our 10th deck balcony...

Graceful gliders scanning the sea for food.

It is tough to get a good grasp on the wave heights.

Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne was another port that we planned to explore "on our own" with a Viator food tour as the central piece. Our meeting point was a little ways from the port but we all wanted to get outdoors and do some walking. It took us about an hour and it was fun to stroll through some of Melbourne's neighborhood along a dedicated walkway. We made it to our meeting point and joined our small group to start walking through portions of Melbourne for a collection of food, drinks and deserts. My kind of tour! Everything we tasted was enjoyable, but the highlight for me was trying kangaroo and crocodile skewers. Kangaroo thrive in Australia like deer do in North America, so while it seemed exotic to us, it was pretty ordinary for them.

We enjoyed Melbourne a lot!

Melbourne greeted us with hot air balloons and promising weather :)

A portion of the Melbourne area.

Our sample of kangaroo and crocodile skewers. Both were enjoyable!

Our Melbourne food tour group :)

Chocolate and cheese pairing - part of our food tour.

Melbourne's Chinatown.

One example of Melbourne street art.

Burnie, Tasmania (Australia)

Our next stop was going to be Burnie. This is the one port that we booked a tour through the ship. We took a bus ride through the island to a wildlife park and enjoyed seeing kangaroos, Tasmanian devils, a koala or two, and many other animals. The kangaroos were kept in an open area we were able to walk amongst them and their little ones. We were encouraged to give them a chest scratch and the results were hilarious, kind of like a dog tummy rub.

A scenic stop on our way to the wildlife park.

The Tasmanian devil!

A room with her joey :)

We saw an albino wallaby.

Mom and Joey.

Our first koala...not our last :)

My friend - the Emu.

Eden, Australia

Our final stop on this first cruise would be the small town of Eden. I think it would be safe to assume we almost doubled the population during the visit! Eden is set along a portion of very scenic Australian coast. We walked from the ship into town and enjoyed lunch before strolling around the beaches and cliffs. It was a nice, quiet visit in a small port town.

NCL Spirit moored in Eden.

There was a cool sculpture garden near our pier.

Part of the sculpture garden, and truth.

Eden scenic coastline.

Scenic Eden.

The Orca Museum in Eden pays tribute to an important part of Eden's heritage.

On to Sydney

Our next stop would be Sydney for our turnaround day and the start of our next adventure - the South Pacific cruise.

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.