My Adventure Down Under

Today was our second day at sea. The expedition team and myself were frantically working on photos for the slide show. I had taken over 1000 photos so far and the goal was to have every passenger represented in the slide show as well as to cover the complete trip.

The final lecture today was Rob talking at the Titanic dives. While not applicable for our voyage in New Zealand, over 50 people were on hand in the theatre on deck 6. His slides were great and based on the interest from people who stayed after the lecture; he may get some business from our passengers.

It was a bit rainy in the morning, but the weather cleared enough to keep the seas relatively calm. The original plan was to make a diversion to White Island, which boasts a smoking volcano cone, but to stick to the schedule, we headed straight for Whangaroa.

After dinner, there was a sing-a-long in the Galaxy Lounge on Deck 6. When we went up, the seas had taken a turn, and it was rock and roll up there! It was so bad I could barely anchor myself to take a photo. Nevertheless, about 15 people appeared and sang for about an hour. The only problem was the piano player never changed the key to accommodate semi-drunken singers. Many of the songs were too high for them and as a result, we sang Take Me Home Country Roads 4 times during the hour because it was in the right key for them.

The piano player, Peter, is Hungarian. He was on a cruise in the Caribbean and I had to devise a way to get him from Antigua to New Zealand avoiding US airports (so he wouldn’t have to obtain a transit visa, which can only be obtained in your home country). He flew Antigua, Heathrow, bus to Gatwick, Hong Kong, Auckland, and Napier! He was worth every penny!! He’ll be our musician on the European cruises also.

Tomorrow is golfing at Kauri Cliffs, the sister property of Kidnappers.