Auckland, New Zealand Days 2 & 3

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Tour Day 49, Auckland, New Zealand Day 2, Monday, November 27, 2023 – I knew China was a difficult country for travelers. I had started an application a couple months before the cruise began, but I abandoned the process when I learned that folks arriving on ship need to visit a Chinese Embassy to complete the application process. The closet embassy to Mesa AZ – Los Angeles; but alas, there is an embassy in Auckland. Problem solved – NOT. I went to the doctor’s appointment. His diagnosis was bronchitis, and I was given a prescription for an antibiotic. After procuring the antibiotic, we stopped by the Chinese embassy only to find it closed, contrary to the web site hours of operation. Nothing else really exciting to scribe about.

Tour Day 50, Auckland, New Zealand Day 3, Tuesday, November 28, 2023 – One of the first activity suggestions Paul made after telling him I’d be coming for a visit was, “We can do some fishing.” We met Paul’s friend, Jeff, at the dock and readied for departure. After cruising to the chosen angling site, we tried our luck for a couple of hours. Jeff didn’t fish, Paul caught a few youngsters and I “boated” three that were undersize as well and tossed them back to the ocean. It was great fun, I wasn’t skunked, and “catching a red snapper” is off the bucket list.

After fishing, we headed for the Chinese Embassy. Lo and behold, it was open. The young lady was unable to locate my incomplete application (that had been started in America) because they only have access to applications that were initiated in New Zealand. My application is somewhere in the Chino-American Cloud, I guess! If I have to remain on the ship during our overnight stop in Shanghai, China, the world will keep on spinning. To round out the day, we made a stop at the Auckland Museum, a very interesting museum that, in my opinion, is better than The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, New Zealand's national museum. I had visited the latter during a shore excursion while ported in Wellington, New Zealand and found it quite unremarkable, a sentiment echoed by my friend, Paul. He related many Kiwis have expressed a sense of disappointment at their national museum.

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Photos

A Morning of Fishing
Nice Little Fishin' Skiff

A Morning of Fishing
Jeff (l.) and Paul

A Morning of Fishing
Aye, Aye, Captain!

And an Afternoon of Education
New Zealand Is Volcanic in Origin and Consists of Two Main Landmasses—the North Island and the South Island, and Over 700 Smaller Islands

And an Afternoon of Education
The Islands of New Zealand Were the Last Large Habitable Land Mass to be Settled by Humans

And an Afternoon of Education
Between About 1280 and 1350, Polynesians Began to Settle in the Islands and Developed a Distinctive Māori Culture

And an Afternoon of Education
New Zealand's Culture Is Mainly Derived from Māori and Early British Settlers

And an Afternoon of Education
New Zealand Became a Dominion in 1907 and Gained Full Statutory Independence in 1947