I forgot to mention that yesterday I took two strong pain killers as I had a slight reaction to the sulphur like bad headache and my hip was a bit sore. Oh and I had my usual two glasses of white wine in honour of shabbat. As a result I slept until 10:30 when I was rudely awakened by a fire drill alarm for crew members to hold a practice. Don was in shul so I found some coffee and read to wake myself up. It was a glorious day. We anchored in Auckland. After kiddush and lunch we thought that we would go for a walk in town. But we had locked our security id in the safe and wouldn't open the electronic safe on Shabbat. So we played bridge with Marcia and Norman. It ... read more

The Maori name is Taumatawhakatanghihangako-auauotamteaturipukapikimaunga-horonuku-pokaiwhenuakitanatahu. This is a Maori phrase recalling the mythical Tamatea (land eater) who serenaded his lover with a magical flute. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (a Welsh town - the longest place name in the English language) eat your heart out. The original town was destroyed by an earthquake on 3 February 1931 and as a result of the quake it gained 10,000 acres of land from the debris thrown up from the sea. It was rebuilt in the Art Deco style. We started our morning visiting the Aquarium. We passed on the lunchtime special as we were afraid it would be too fresh. The aquarium is used as a means of teaching about the environment and conservation of species. From there we wandered back into the town and spotted a Starbucks. Note for niece Katie ... read more

The day started at 1:45 am when the phone rang. Was it Santa stuck in the chimney? No it was a call from the desk asking if all was ok in the room. Don had pushed the emergency call button instead of turning off his light Christmas day came and it went. There was an announcement at 9 something am that a UFO had been spotted by NASA coming towards the ship. Guess who? Well it kept the little ones (and some adults) amused when Santa finally landed on the ship. Although we were anchored in the middle of nowhere at least the sun was shining. Tomorrow we are going to Wellington. I am sure you will be pleased to know that we have no buckets nor caution triangles outside our room but no exit light ... read more

Well the bucket was still under the light when we went down for breakfast. Yes I know it is the fast of Tevet but I don't fast. The fast will go out at 10:04 tonight. About half the group were fasting. Don and I together with Marcia and Norman got off the ship which had berthed in Port Chalmers. We hailed a taxi or rather Don hailed the taxi in his inimical fashion of launching himself in front of it. The poor driver had little option but to stop. The taxi driver and his brother own a farm of about 200 acres. He asked us if we wanted a tour of the scenic route and we said yes. The landscape from above the town is spectacular. He also showed us the steepest road in the world ... read more

Friday all day we are at sea. How does one amuse oneself? Well how about we start with three itsy bitsy cups of coffee and food. Then not having not met our steward we need to report a safety issue in our cabin. So we call maintenance. They ask us if we have told our cabin steward. We tell them that he or she is a little shy. So maintenance reports back that they have gotten onto the steward's case and reports back to us. (N.B. English is not the first language for most of the staff and communication is not always easy.) Five minutes later we get another call asking if there is anybody in our room. I replied that if there was nobody in the room I couldn't answer the phone. A giggle comes ... read more