With memories of the Australian ballet at the Sydney opera house still vivid in our memories, we sailed away and headed for the Southern tip of New Zealand.
The circumnavigation of New Zealand would take 14 days, going as far south as possible then hugging the eastern coastline before rounding the Bay of Islands and heading back to Sydney.
Stormy weather continued as we crossed to Milford Sound. The only bonus of all the rain was the magnificent waterfalls it created. Sheer walls of water cascaded down steep rock faces and plunged into the Sound, very reminiscent of Princess Louisa here on our own Coast.
The first port of call was Halfmoon Bay, Stewart Island. This island has only 350 residents and more than 80 per cent of the island is a national park. I visited our local Halfmoon Bay Elementary School before leaving on the trip, where the students wrote postcards to the children in New Zealand.
After tendering ashore, I found my way to the school. It turned out the teacher I met, Bonny, was a Canadian who had lived in New Zealand for 23 years. She has family here in B.C. and recently visited Whistler. We had a great chat and I delivered the postcards and a letter from the students.
This was to be our most southern port. We rounded the tip of the south island and headed north, making stops in Dunedin, and Akaroa (close to Christchurch), Wellington and Napier.
The most memorable stop for me was the tour of the Hobbiton movie set. They had just finished filming two more Hobbit movies at this location, with one to be released in December 2012, the other in December 2013.
The set had been closed to the public for months and only reopened for tours three weeks before our visit. We were given an excellent tour by one of the movie set crew learning about how the location was chosen, where specific scenes were filmed and how things were changed for the new set. We were allowed to take pictures of the "gathering tree," the newly constructed artificial oak tree, and the 39 Hobbit homes.
However, we also had to sign papers that all pictures were for personal use and could not be published or placed on YouTube. The penalties sounded severe.
We arrived in Auckland on a warm, sunny day and enjoyed the harbour full of masts and sailboats. Each of the tour bus drivers seemed to enjoy taking us on rides up narrow winding roads so we could get the best views of their cities.
I didn't encounter any sea sickness on the trip, but these bus trips were putting my nerves and stomach to the test.
Our last stop was at the Bay of Islands - a beautiful area with small, quaint towns, lots of small restaurants with outside seating, golf courses and caves.
Another check mark on my bucket list, I took a tour of a glow worm cave. Once inside, the lanterns were turned off and the ceiling lit up with hundreds of tiny blue lights, not unlike Christmas LED lights. It was fascinating looking up and seeing what appeared to be the Milky Way above our heads while we were underground - another challenge met and enjoyed.
We were now back at sea for our last few days before returning to Sydney.
This time we arrived under blue skies and had a lovely day visiting Bondi Beach, local parks, the Rocks, plus the downtown shopping area before heading to the airport.
Thirty-nine days had passed quickly, but left us with a lifetime of memories.
Sailing has become a wonderful way to travel. You can see many places in a short period of time and know which ones will be added to your "must return to" list.
