This was Kathie's and my second visit to New Zealand.  Mine was 12 years ago, and Kathie’s was 30 years ago.  As it turns out, it was a good-news, bad-news visit.  The good news was that we had already enjoyed some of the incredible scenery from our previous visit.  The bad news was that our ship’s itinerary was so drastically changed it prevented us from repeating some of what we had seen before.  That said, we did have a great time in New Zealand, primarily because my son Jason and his wife Heather flew in and met us at our first port of Tauranga. But before I get into the details of the trip let me provide some background information on the country of New Zealand.

New Zealand

New Zealand is a remote island nation in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, known for dramatic landscapes, a strong indigenous culture, and a modern, stable economy. It consists mainly of two large islands—the North Island and South Island—along with hundreds of smaller islands. The country sits on the boundary of the Pacific and Australian tectonic plates, making it geologically active with earthquakes and volcanic activity.  It has a total population of approximately 5 million, with primary heritage of European, Māori (original settlers in the 13^th century), Pacific Islander, and Asian communities.

Tauranga - our first port of call

Tauranga sits on a natural harbor facing the Pacific Ocean and is about a 2.5–3 hour drive southeast of Auckland. The city blends waterfront living with easy access to beaches, farmland, and inland geothermal regions.  Because of the aforementioned changes in our itinerary, instead of Jason and Heather boarding the ship and settling in, they boarded the ship as just visitors because the ship was scheduled to leave that evening, after only being in port for less than a day.  So we gave  Jason and Heather a quick tour of the ship; then our cabin; then a nice lunch.  Because of the itinerary change, Kathie and I packed our bags and headed off the ship with Jason and Heather for our next 6-day journey inland.  Since we only had a few more hours of daylight we did a quick tour of the waterfront area where we found an interesting sculpture that exemplifies the expression "fighting like dogs and cats".

We all stayed in a little motel that night not far from the ship then we began a six day, 2100 mile tour of the North Island.  Not far outside of Tauranga is the little town Te Puke.  I'm sure most of you know this but Te Puke is the kiwifruit capital of the world.  New Zealand produces billions of kiwifruit annually.  There are two types of kiwifruit – green and gold.  Gold kiwifruit was developed in New Zealand through selective breeding.  The fruit is picked firm and ripens after harvest.  Grown on woody vines supported by trellis systems and covered by netting to protect the fruit from insects and birds.  Kiwifruit vines can live for decades.  Here's a few pictures from the many kiwifruit orchards that we passed.  Our next stop was the coastal city of Napier.

Napier 

Napier is a coastal city on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island, with a population of around 70,000. It is best known for its remarkable concentration of 1930s Art Deco buildings, rebuilt after the devastating 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake. Because so much of the city was reconstructed at once, Napier is often considered one of the best-preserved Art Deco cities in the world.  Additionally it has a wonderful waterfront park next a fine pebble black beach.  Here's some pictures of the Art Deco building and the waterfront park.

After our tour of Napier, we were back in the car for our next stop the Rotorua area.

Rotorua is one of New Zealand's most unique destinations - famous for its geothermal activity and Maori culture.