February 22 - Auckland, New Zealand

This morning we had a lecture by Terry Cook about the history of New Zealand and then early trivia. Since we don't dock until early aftrenoon, there would be no afternoon trivia and some players get upset if they don't get their daily fix. 😊

It was quite rainy when we came into port, but it at least stopped raining by the time we were ready to get off the ship. We just walked around downtown for a while looking for new sandals for Michael. Trouble is, his foot is so wide, it's a challenge and we failed. It was SO muggy after the rainstorm that we returned to the ship for a beer and a cool down before our evening event.

The ship had a party for the World Cruisers at the Museum. It was billed as a Hobbiton Dinner Event. The venue was very nice and they had Lord of the Rings characters "performing" and wandering around during dinner. I couldn't tell who they were since I've never seen the movies, but it was fun. There was a Celtic group performing - some Irish songs and some American - while wearing Hobbit ears and a sort of Middle Earth clothing. Those Hobbit ears were cute, but apparently they only come in Caucasian. There were some black servers who didn't have any, and one darker toned man whose ears were a little too white.

Captain Palm had turned over control of the ship today to the new captain, so he was there in his civvies and having a glass of wine. I bet he's happy to have a break after this rather turbulent last week or so. He's scheduled to rejoin us in Barcelona.

Towards the end of the Hobbiton Dinner in New Zealand, the Irish Celtic band was playing Johhny Cash's "Burning Ring of Fire". Everyone was singing or dancing along. It was a hoot, and I find myself shaking my head at the confluence of cultures we keep experiencing on this trip.