We thought Gisborne was a weird stop and every time we mentioned the port to a New Zealander they’d raise their eyebrows. There’s really not a lot there and the weather wasn’t helpful at all. We got off the ship and wandered into town. It was a long-ish tender in and when we started walking into town it started raining, by the time we reached town center it was pouring. We were just going to have a look through town but halfway through a toilet was needed and we ended up ducking into the local library. The boys and I had a look around and did some reading while Peter checked mail. We stepped out to even heavier rains that had no signs of slowing and we decided to head back to the ship early. It was about time for happy hour. They have some great happy hour drinks on HAL. From 4-5 every day in a couple different bars they do a “Buy one drink get the second for $1”. We go up and get drinks and they bring the boys endless goldfish crackers – happy indeed. J The boys love this but it makes people laugh when they ask with excitement almost daily – “Is it almost time for happy hour?”
Grant and Henry with some of our favorite bar staff on the cruise – Ernie and Wednesday (born on Thursday) – The Gold Fish Grant is holding were not a normal part of the happy hour snacks!
The next port was Tauranga. We rented a car and headed out the bubbling mud pools of Hell’s Gate at Rotorua. There were several spa options that included bathing in some of the mud and then the use of their thermal spas but when we got there Grant had a sudden panic attack about even going in the place. I have no idea what he thought was going on but he was really nervous and scared and wouldn’t tell us what was going on. We opted for the self tour to walk around the bubbling mud lakes ourselves. This tour also included a complimentary mud foot soak. We figured if Grant warmed (ha!) up to the idea by the end we could upgrade our tour. It took ages and a potty trip before he decided he was ok putting his feet in the mud.
By that time the cruise ships had started arriving. If our experience at other ports has taught us anything it’s that you kinda don’t really want to be associated with people on an excursion from our cruise ship. For some reason people on these excursions seem to exhibit some of the most appalling behavior that makes it embarrassing to even be associated with the ship. People are pushing and shoving and being really rude at every turn as if the scenery is going to run away before they can get a picture. When a bus stops people just get up from the back as if they’ve been given elite status and they charge to the front before all the aisles in front of them leave. People that we’ve become friends with over the trip have cancelled the last two shore excursions they’ve had booked with the cruise ship because they were so embarrassed to witness and be associated with people being so jerky.
Hells Gate:
We ended up looking around at the pools and feeling lame because we were returning the rental car early and going back on board again but Auckland is tomorrow and that’s when we get off this roving hotel we’ve called home for the past 40 days. Once we started packing and realized what an epic job it was going to be we didn’t feel so bad about only spending half a day off the boat.
In the midst of all of this I also have the Dancing with the Stars finale and I have been terrible company over the past few days rehearsing in my head all the steps to my Tango routine. I had our final rehearsal tonight and then we performed at 9:30pm. I was so nervous that I didn’t even enjoy my time backstage hanging with my amazing dance partner Luke. I was last to perform and made it through completely without messing up any steps! Yay me!. I even got the highest score of all the dancers 29/30 but I didn’t woop up the crowd as much as the Jive dancer did to score as many audience applause points and came in second place. It was still a ton of fun and I’m glad I did it.
Misty with Christina and Danielle from Kids Club and Matt Bauer (signer/guitarist from happy hour bar):
Misty with Luke Jacobs her Dancer from Dancing with the Stars right after the show:
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