Wellington, NZ

On Tuesday we arrived in Wellington on schedule. It was cloudy but not raining. By the time the day was over we had a very pleasant day. Wellington was our third stop in New Zealand and we still think it is very much like Scotland. In fact, one woman told Morag today in the laundry room that she had been visiting Scotland, but it was called New Zealand. We were met at the port by Patsy, who was the school friend of Morag's sister Rachel. Patsy left Scotland for NZ 54 years ago and Morag had not seen her since. As were walking through the parking lot on the quayside looking for someone, a car horn honked and a young woman came out of a car and hugged us. It was Jackie, Patsy's daughter who had come to meet us. Patsy was still in the car. So our adventure in Wellington began.

We first had a quick run around the center of Wellington and up to Mount Victoria, a lookout point from where we had a good view of Wellington, the harbor and the surrounding coastline. The place is beautiful. We then took a drive along the coast just playing tourist. From one of our lookout points we could barely make out the southern island where we had been the day before. We stopped for coffee and had a look around at several places, looking for souvenirs, etcetera. We had lunch at a nice restaurant overlooking the ocean and sitting on top of a big bluff. The ocean is everywhere in NZ: you are never more than 70 miles away from it. After lunch we went to Patsy's house where we met her other daughter and four grandchildren. We had a cup of tea and a blether and then too soon time had passed and it was time for us to return to the ship. It was a wonderful day and we never stopped talking about Scotland and times gone by.

Last night we went to a show after dinner, which was a talent show put on by some crew members. All the acts were musical and were very good. At the end we had to vote on which act we thought was the best. The winner is supposed to be announced tonight.

So now we are at sea and on our way to Sydney where we will spend two days. The weather in the Tasmanian Sea is stormy and wet. Hopefully it will be better in Sydney. It is still better than all the snow in Maryland.