Parting Thoughts on the trip:

Highlights:

The Harbor, Circular Quay and Cockle Bay in Sydney.

Ayer’s Rock at sunset and the rainbow over the Kata Tjuta in the Red Center of Australia.

The cruise through Fiordland Park on our first day in New Zealand.

The Spellbound Glowworm Cave tour out of Auckland.

And most importantly, the people of Australia and New Zealand who were so kind and courteous to strangers wandering in their strange lands.

Disappointments:

Missing the Great Barrier Reef due to Cyclone Larry……but that is just fate.

Praise is due:

Princess Cruise Line for organizing a great pre-cruise package and for being very efficient at embarkation, during the cruise and at disembarkation. This was the best run travel experience that we have had.

Marilyn, our pre-cruise land tour escort, for sheparding a bunch of whiney, jet-lagged tourists around half of the continent of Australia. I know it must have been like herding cats, but she did a great job.

Don Cater and Peter Chandler for our Auckland/Glowworm Caves Tour --- very entertaining and very professionally done.

Cruise Critic “Andrea A” for taking the lead in organizing and coordinating our Auckland tour.

Veronica Clark of Carlson Wagonlit Travel in Plano for handling our travel bookings and airline seating.

Nelson Helm for getting us to and from the airport so that we didn’t have to hassle with shuttle buses or parking. (Oh, and thanks for delivering those ‘left-over’ suitcases too)

Wishes:

I wish it didn’t take a full day trapped in an economy class airline seat to get to Australia/New Zealand, so we could do it again soon.

Other random thoughts:

I mentioned earlier about the difference in the way the animal kingdom evolved in Australia and New Zealand….everything in Australia will kill you or at least hurt you very badly, while everything in New Zealand is gentle and shy.  During our visit to Ayer’s Rock and Port Douglas in Australia we received several warnings about the deadly snakes, spiders, jellyfish, etc. So, as we were touring an animal sanctuary in New Zealand we saw a snake in the enclosure and someone said “I bet that’ll kill you, won’t it?” To which the guide said “Nah, he’s a shy little bugger, wouldn’t hurt a flea…..”. Later we encountered a large spider in the trees as we walked along the trail and so our guide, without prompting, said “Since you just came from Australia, I best tell you that you’ve got no need to worry, this here spider won’t kill you either…..I mean it’s just a bloody little spider….it might give you a little kiss but it won’t hurt you”.

Lesson Learned:

Updating a website, even a simple one, while traveling can be a challenge. Slow or non-existent Internet connections, time constraints and travel conditions make site maintenance a much bigger job than it appeared to be when I was sitting at home with a high-speed connection and lots of time available.....still, it was a good learning experience and an enjoyable way to try to share little pieces of the trip.