Aussie-New Zealand 2017 - Tauranga (Rotorua) New Zealand

Tauranga/Rotorua, New Zealand

November 7, 2017

We arrived in Tauranga around 7am.  With our tour of Rotorua not meeting until 9am, we had the opportunity to explore the small seaside resort town of Tauranga on our own.

The town is a peninsula with a beautiful lake in front of mount? one side and the ocean on the other.  We began our walk along the lake watching boaters, swimmers and walkers. 

Next we crossed through the quiet residential homes to the opposite beaches along the ocean.  We were treated to seemingly endless miles of beach.

Next we walked though the Main Street lined with parks, shops & sidewalk cafes.  We ended our walk back at the ship, just in time for our tour of Rotorua to begin with Zealandier tours.

Our tour began with along the beaches until we reached the mountains.  

We soon passed numerous dairy and Kiwi farms.  Our stopped at a local kiwi farm for tasting and to learn how they are grown.  

Next we stopped to see some beautiful New Zealand silver ferns followed by lunch along side a beautiful lake.  The lake was home to the majestic Black Swans.

Our final stop was to see the volcano and hot springs which are all located on the land owned by the Maori native tribes.

Aussie-New Zealand 2017 - Auckland New Zealand

Auckland, New Zealand

November 5-6, 2017

We arrived in Auckland late afternoon, exhausted from our hurried transfer from ship to Sydney Airport and onto our 3 1/2 hour flight.  We checked into the Crown Plaza Hotel.  Our room had a lovely view of the cruise terminal.  

We did a short DIY walking tour the next morning before heading to the ship.

Auckland is a very large city and we only slightly touched the surface with much more left unseen before we ran out of time.

Aussie-New Zealand 2017 - Brisbane Australia

Our tour guide, John of personallyyours, was waiting for us as we exited the port.  John was a informative guide with an obvious love of his country and of course Brisbane.  He loaded us into his van and off we went.

Our first stop was a beautiful scenic overlook of the city and river.  It was so lovely.

Next, John took us on a tour of Queensland homes and neighborhoods.  We felt a real connection with the locals.

Our pub lunch was inside a grand old hotel for some delicious fish and chips.

Next we headed to the sanctuary where John accompanied us to see wildlife such as kangaroos, bats, emu & of course we were able to cuddle a koala.

We were dropped off at the entrance to the ship after a full day of touring Brisbane.  We really enjoyed this city!

Aussie-New Zealand 2017 - Alotau, Papua New Guinea

We took a short trip to Alotau,Papua New Guinea.  We arrived just in time to attend a local festival..Our arrival was also on Halloween.

Aussie-New Zealand 2017 - Cairns Australia (The Great Barrier Reef)

We purchased a ticket on a ferry type speed boat to Green Island which consisted of 4 hours of snorkel time along The Great Barrier Reef.

It was a 10 minute walk along the wharf to where the boat was docked.  The boat left within 45 minutes of our arrival in Cairns and it was a lovely boat ride along the beautiful blue waters of the Coral Sea.  Our tickets included snorkel gear and lunch, we skipped the lunch due to the horrible long lines.

When we first made our way into the water I was very skeptical that we would see anything but I was pleasant surprised to see so much! We saw so many colorful fish, big and small, gorgeous coral, starfish and even a huge stingray.  Later we even spotted some turtles.  

After we were exhausted from snorkeling, we wandered around to other parts of the island before heading back to Cairns.  It was beautiful weather and we truly enjoyed our day.

Aussie-New Zealand 2017 - Darwin Australia

Darwin was fairly unremarkable as compared to the other Australian cities we visited.  There seemed to be a large amount of uneducated, homeless Aboriginals roaming about.   While none of them really approached us, they did remind us to be aware of our surroundings.

The first thing we noticed when we arrived was the beautiful turquoise waters.  The first thing we did was walk through a lovely park that followed the coastline into town.  We marveled at the fact that the city of Darwin offered free wifi throughout the central shopping areas.  Very convenient.  We paused a moment to FaceTime with family using the wifi then shopped for some gifts.  Darwin is very near Indonesia so their prices were lower than some of the other cities.

After downtown we continued through the park along the coastline admiring beautiful views of the coastline before heading back to our ship..

One of the most interesting and sad discoveries we made during our visit was the horrible bombings this city suffered from Japanese.  Such a senseless tragedy.

Aussie-New Zealand 2017 - Kimberly Coast of Australia

Aussie-New Zealand 2017 - Broome Australia

One word comes immediately to mind when thinking back to our time in Broome....HOT!  It was the hottest city we have visited since our arrival to Australia.  It’s a dry heat like Vegas.  The landscape is made of beautiful cliffs and beaches, red from the deep iron content of the soil.  The town itself is made up of only 2 main streets which had many pearl shops.  Pearls were their main source of revenue before plastics caused their value to drop.

Broome’s crown jewel is Cable Beach.  A beautiful beach of red sand which treats beach goers to  beautiful sunsets each evening.  Crocodiles are advertised to attract tourists.  Their were farms, boat tours and aquarium exhibits all centered around the local Crocs.  They also offer Camel rides along Cable Beach.  I had no idea that Northwestern Australia has home to so many Camels but after experiencing the dry hot climate I now understand why.

We booked a Sunset eco cruise with a local fishing charter company along the Coastline and Cable Beach.  We were delighted by all the snub nosed dolphins we saw.  They put on quite a show for us!

Before our visit to Australia, this is what I pictured the country to look like