“Welcome to the South Pacific and the Land Down Under.” boomed the Captain’s voice over the intercom as Kathy, my MT nurse daughter, and I ate our welcoming lunch on the Lido deck of the Statendam Cruise ship which would be our home foe next fourteen days.
(earlier) Auckland, NZ – There was a beautiful red sunrise as our plane descended into Auckland, the largest city in NZ. Holland American buses took us on a guided tour of the city before starting our cruise. It’s called the “City of Sails” because of the number of sailing craft in harbors and bays.
Auckland is very green with tropical foliage because of the 48″ average rainfall. We had a view of the city from the top of Mt. Eden with its extinct volcano
