Today I didn’t book a tour. Originally I was going to tag along with Mary and Jim (my niece and her husband) but they wanted to climb the tower to get a panoramic view of the city and visit some museums and my preference was to visit Kelly Tarlton’s Arctic Encounter and Undersea world. I had made a date to go with Barbara, one of my table mates, but somehow, we got our wires crossed regarding the time we were to meet, so I went off on my own. I met another group who were headed there, so together we hired a van. It cost us $7. each – would have been a lot cheaper had there not been construction on the route we had to take.
The Arctic Encounter was a narration and it showed us reproductions of the cabins in which the Arctic explorers like Scott lived. We saw their warm, thick clothing, some of the actual equipment they used and some of the logs they kept etc. etc. I think it was Scott’s crew that had to wait out a storm white out and they ran out of food. They were only a day’s walk from the next provision depot. What a pity !
Next we were treated to the sight of Penguins. They were so cute – We were in a nine seat car which drove us through a glassed in area where they live. On land, they seem to move rather awkwardly but in the water, they look as though they are soaring through the air. It was my first sight of real penguins and I couldn’t help but think about how many beautiful different creatures God has created.
After the penguins we went through a glass tunnel where the marine creatures swam on both sides and above us. There were various varieties of fish, sharks and stingrays – all so graceful. Then we passed on unto a room where there were displays of coral and beautiful multi coloured tropical fish. All in all it was a most enjoyable morning. I was fortunate enough to catch the free bus back to the city centre and it dropped me off right in front of the mall where I was to pick up my glasses. Thank goodness the optician was able to repair them, so I now have my tri focals back. I think I’ll only use them on board ship. They are too fragile for the rough time I give them when I’m on tours. I’ll use my cheap sunglasses when I’m out and about.
Barbara, my table companion and I decided to change diner tables. Although at first, I thought that our other companions were congenial, as we got to know them better, we found some of them downright rude. The married couple (two very nice people) who shared our table also asked to be changed. There was one man and woman who knew each other from another cruise and they held private conversations most of the time. That man only directly addressed me once the entire month we shared a table and quite frequently we were seated beside each other. I got to know his back quite well. Another woman at the table scolded Barbara one evening because she came a few minutes late for dinner. Now we are seated with 3 ladies. Tonight was our first time together. So far so good. If this doesn’t work out, we’ll ask to be changed again. This was a good time for the change, because 100 people got off in Auckland and about 50 new ones came aboard.
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