The next part of our adventure begins--we head to New Zealand.

Over the last four weeks, we circumnavigated Australia on the Sea Princess cruise ship, returning to Brisbane where we disembarked the ship and flew to Sydney.

We spent one night in the historic Rocks area before boarding the Golden Princess cruise ship, which will take us to New Zealand.

We stayed at the Harbor Rocks Hotel.  It is in a great location for us to walk around the harbor to the Opera House, go to the Harbor Bridge, and walk to the cruise ship to embark the next morning.

photo from internet

After checking in to the hotel, we head out to walk around the Circular Quay harbor area with Gwen and Jerry before dinner.

 ...And walking through the local market just steps away from our hotel.

 We browse by the art stores.  Here is a sample of the colorful Arboriginal art.

The next morning Terry and I did a walkabout. We headed to the walkway on the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Our next ship has arrived...the Golden Princess.

 The Sydney Opera House from the bridge

 On the bridge pedestrian walkway.

 Under the bridge...

 Through the park...

 And back out to the harbor,

 Time to head back to the hotel, pack up and board the ship.

 Our view from the ship while waiting for sailaway.

The setting sun casts a glow on the Opera House as we sail by one final time.

We then sail across the Tasman Sea heading to Fjordland where we hoped we would be lucky this time and can sail into the fjords. In 2010, the Tasman Sea was too rough and we missed entering Fjordland; so we kept our fingers crossed that this voyage will be successful.

For 2 days we sailed across the Tasman Sea toward New Zealand. As we remembered from our crossing in 2010, the sea was pretty rough, but this time we woke up to seeing our first glimpse of Fjordland National Park.

When we headed to breakfast, we learned that the pilot was about to board the ship to guide us through the waters of Fjordland National Park.

Fjordland is the largest National Park in New Zealand and one of the largest in the world. It has been recognized as one of the world's foremost natural landscapes that covers 3.1 million acres.

We enter at Milford Sound. The waters are calm and the skies are blue!

The park contains mountains, the highest being 9,000 feet...

There are plenty of waterfalls. We were told that yesterday, as we were bouncing along on the Tasman Sea, the park here received 8 inches of rain.

There are 14 fjords with rugged coastlines.

This waterfall is 55 stories high.

After leaving Milford Sound, we followed the coastline south to Thompson Sound

We enter the Sound and sail around a large island called Secretary Island and exit at Doubtful Sound.

Much of Fjordland's rainforest clings to steep rock covered by a thin layer of rich, peaty humus and moss. Rain falls over 200 days each year can measure about 27 feet annually.

The weather is extremely changeable and by afternoon we are losing the sunshine.

We "camped" out on deck 14 inside the dining area with Jerry and Gwen to watch the scenery as we cruised along.

It was easy to step outside on the deck to take photos.

Occasionally we saw some fishing boats.

And, of course, more waterfalls. Yesterday there would have been thousands of waterfalls streaming down the steep mountainsides during the downpour of rain.  But with fog and low clouds, we probably would not have been able to see them or maybe not even enter Fjordland!

We sailed by a rock filled with Harbor Seals.

It was a great day of cruising through this unspoiled paradise!  Of course we only saw a small part of the park...there is so much more to it inland....rainforests, granite-peaked mountains, and many lakes.

Next we visit a few ports in New Zealand--2 we have been to previously and 2 that will be new to us.

Overnight the ship sailed from Fjordland to Port Chalmers on the southeast coast to visit the adjoining city of Dunedin.

Port Chalmers and Dunedin began with the arrival of the first European settlers in 1848.  Dunedin is New Zealand's oldest city.  In 1861 the discovery of gold put Dunedin on the world map.

We watched the sail in outside on the deck about 7 am as the sun was rising.

There is a road that follows the coastline right next to the water's edge.

Port Chalmers is one of New Zealand's busiest ports with a container terminal and logging facility.

Today's tour is a train ride through the spectacular Taieri River Gorge.

We ride in a narrow gauge train through the plains, tunnels, bridges and gorges.

Just outside of Dunedin is the Taieri Plain.  It was once wetlands before the European settlers arrived and drained it for farmland.

There are lots of this thorny evergreen yellow blooming bush called gorse.  Anyone who has read the Outlander series of books has heard of it.  It was brought here from Scotland and is considered a real nuisance plant.  It grows 10 feet tall, is very dense, takes over other plantings, and is highly flammable.  They don't like it!  But it is kind of pretty on the hillsides.

We pass many fields with grazing sheep.

 Our first glimpse of the Taieri River

We pass through 12 tunnels, with no room to spare for the train!

And over several bridges. Building a railway through this country began in 1879 and was not finished until 1921.

 The train begins to climb high above the river

And through the Taieri Gorge.

It's a long drop-off here.

 Finally we reach the top of the gorge

The station at the top is Pukerangi, 250m above sea level.

We are able to get off the train for a look around.

The locals have tables set up selling some craft items.

It's not too long and we are able to reboard the train.

It is at Pukerangi that the locomotive switches ends and we start the return journey.

About halfway back to Dunedin there is a problem with the locomotive. We sit on the track until another locomotive is sent to hook onto the train and power us back to the station in Dunedin. The 4-hour train trip had now turned into a 6-hour trip.

 Back at the station in Dunedin we board a bus for a quick drive through the city and back to the ship.

This is the outside of the train station, which is really a beautiful building. It was built in 1906 and is nicknamed the gingerbread house. There is a strong Scottish influence in Dunedin. The city was supposed to be patterned after Edinburgh, Scotland. The name Dunedin is Gaelic for South Edinburgh.

I grabbed this photo from the internet.  It was impossible to take a photo of the entire building with all the buses parked in front of it.  Here's an almost clear shot with blue skies, too, which we did not have.

Inside the train station there are extravagant tile floors...

 ...and beautiful stained glass windows.

We had a quick drive through the city as we headed back to the ship; and as it was now pouring rain, we have no photos.   We had visited Dunedin back in 2010 and had a nice city tour, a visit to Lanach Castle and we saw nesting penguins and albatross.  To read about that day in Dunedin, click here.

The next day we are in Akaroa--oh my!! What a wonderful day we had in this port.

The French and British almost simultaneously founded Akaroa.

Captain Cook sighted the peninsula in 1770 and mistakenly declared the landmass an island.

In 1838 the French bought the region from the natives for 240 pounds worth of goods, and a few months later, the British claimed it.

We anchor in the French Bay and take the tender ashore to the Akaroa Harbor.

About 700 people live in the picturesque town and there are 10 times as many sheep up in the hills.

Here's our ride that will take us high above the bay for some spectacular scenery with our friends, Jerry and Gwen. We are very lucky for some blue skies today. It rained here yesterday and the ship that is one day ahead of us was unable to stop here.

With Marty of V8 Trikes as our driver, we headed out of town and up into the hills.  He gave us lots of thrills when he cut it wide open.

The mountains here on the southern island of New Zealand are called the Southern Alps.

Terry got a chance to sit in the driver's seat.

From high in the hills, here is the Pacific Ocean at the entrance to the French Bay.

The white dot in the bay is our ship, the Golden Princess.

We stood in awe at the view. The photos don't do justice to what our eyes really took in.

 Marty liked to take any turn in the road at full speed...it was really a fun ride.

Here's the four of us with Jerry momentarily taking the wheel and I think Terry is really enjoying this ride, too.

Riding with Marty of V8 Trikes was really a fun experience.  We had a great time and enjoyed the most beautiful scenery.

Back in town we stopped by this memorial to those who gave their life in the wars. One of the plaques says..."They loved duty more than they feared death".

And this is a memorial to the victims of the recent Christchurch massacre. Christchurch is about a 2-hour drive from Akaroa. That city suffered this tragedy as well as 2 major earthquakes over the last decade.

Then it was time to take the tender back to the ship.

We most certainly agree that New Zealand has a magical landscape. It's no wonder "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy was shot entirely in New Zealand. Next we have a sea day as we head to the North Island of New Zealand.

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