November and December were very busy months for us for both professional and personal reasons.
In early November we were busy catching up with our friends, as Drew had more time to hang out with them during his inter-exam period. Drew finished writing his big fellowship exam in October, which he passed (yay!), and had a final oral exam in late November. While Drew was being more social, he was still busy with exam prep. I continued to attend my sewing class and work on a variety of sewing projects for our upcoming trip. I also made sure to use my new stand-up paddle board (SUP) on weekends. (I bought a BIC inflatable SUP, in case you’re interested.)
The oral exam was in Melbourne, and unfortunately, was the weekend following a major dust storm in Sydney. When we arrived at the airport for our flight on Friday morning it was chaos. There was no real line, and almost all the check-in kiosks were down. The last call desk for flights, which is used to check-in people whose flight is closing shortly, had a huge hardly moving line. Unfortunately for us, we never made our flight, and then spent 45 minutes trying to rebook. At the end of 45 minutes, where they pointlessly shuffled us around, and kept moving us to the back of lines, we were told there were no longer any more seats and all airlines were full for the day. So, we hopped in the car for the long 9 hour drive down to Melbourne.
Thankfully, while we stopped for gas, I searched google maps for airports along the way, and realised that Canberra was only a short 30 minute (one-way) diversion from the route. I managed to book us last minute seats to Melbourne, so we only drove two and a half hours instead of nine! While it was not the start we were hoping for, we were glad that we didn’t arrive in Melbourne exhausted from a long drive.
Most importantly, Drew passed his exam, which he wrote on the next day (Saturday). We had a nice time celebrating with his colleagues by singing karaoke at a bar where you get your own private karaoke room. The next day we flew back to Canberra and then drove home in our car. (By the way, we bought a car in the May; it’s a blue Mitsubishi ASX.) Before we drove home, we used the opportunity to see the War Memorial in Canberra, which was a very nice tribute.
The next weekend, the first weekend of December, we drove north to Nelson Bay. We attended our Minister’s wedding, which was very lovely. The service was at the Uniting Church in Salamander Bay, and the reception was at a nearby surf club’s restaurant. The service was very touching, and the reception had a low-key vibe with a breath-taking view. We stayed at a nice hotel with a swim out room that led into a lagoon pool. We also took my paddle board with us, and went paddle boarding on Sunday morning. We snorkelled as well, but the conditions were poor, so we didn’t see much.
Thankfully, we had a free weekend between our Nelson Bay trip and our next trip to squeeze in some life admin, and finish up some sewing projects, before we flew out.
On December 11th, we flew to Auckland to join a New Zealand cruise for our tenth anniversary! We had a few days to explore Auckland, and met up with friends as well. Notably, we met my mom’s high school penpal, Gwen, and her husband, Thuten. We also saw one of their daughters, Elizabeth, who had lived in Canada before, and her children. One of my favourite sites in Auckland was the maritime museum, which had a lot of information about Maori maritime history, and specifically a large collection of Maori, and South Pacific Islands, boats.
 |
| View From Our Room in Auckland |
 |
| Exploring Auckland |
 |
| Kiwi Christmas Tree |
On December 13th we left Auckland on our cruise ship, the Celebrity Solstice. We had a balcony cabin that gave us access to a special restaurant that served a spa inspired menu (i.e. not giant portions, with a healthier focus), as well as the spa’s relaxation room and saunas.
 |
| Our Room |
 |
| View of Auckland from the Ship |
 |
| Pool Deck |
We sailed first to Tauranga, where we had booked a glowworm cave kayaking excursion. We took a bus to Roto Ete, and boarded our kayaks and set off for a 40 minute paddle that took us to the entrance of the caves. The caves are very small, so our guide disembarked from his kayak in order to help us all fit in the cave. In the antechamber of the cave you could see a few glowworms, but in the second deeper chamber of the cave you could see what looked like a starry night on the ceiling of the cave. It was very cool! Then we paddled another 15 minutes over to our lunch stop at some hot springs. After lunch we relaxed in the thermal pools, before hoping back in our kayaks for the 45 minute paddle back to where we began. It was one of my favourite cruise excursions ever!
The next day was a sea day. We did a number of activities on the ship, and made sure to enjoy the spa’s saunas and steam rooms. Drew took a hot glass class at the glass blowing studio on the ship. He made a very nice tumbler, and it was a great way for Drew to try it out. Unfortunately, since our last Celebrity trip on the Equinox, the focus of the glass studio has shifted to private lessons versus demonstrations. It was a bit disappointing for Drew, as he really enjoyed watching the technically challenging creations that were made when we were on the Equinox.
Following our sea day, we arrived in Wellington, where our friends Jen and Cobus picked us up. They were very generous hosts, and took us on a whirlwind tour of Wellington. We also saw their favourite hangouts, which was really cool too. They dropped us off in the midday at the funicular, which I was very excited to ride. Because Wellington is so hilly, they built this cable car to transport people up the hill from the CBD. Now it’s a tourist attraction, but many residents have their own private cable cars to get to their houses! We rode the cable car round trip back to the top, and then toured the museum. Then, we walked down the hill through the botanical gardens, and walked over to the their parliament buildings. We saw the Beehive, where the executive offices are, and joined a tour of the buildings. The buildings were very impressive, but photos weren’t allowed. Then our friends picked us up and took us to a local brewery called the Garage Project, which is in an old service station. Then we had a quick lunch in the CBD before heading back to the ship.
 |
| Wellington |
 |
| Friends! |
 |
| Boat Sheds |
 |
| Funicular! |
 |
| Beehive & Parliament |
The following day we sailed into Picton, on the south island. We had breakfast on our balcony to enjoy the scenery as we sailed into port. We booked a bike tour of the Marlborough wine region. The tour was a lot of fun; we biked to three different wine tastings, and had a wonderful lunch at the last winery. During our lunch we had the winery to ourself; afterwards we enjoyed a tasting straight from a barrel in the barrel room! Even though there wasn’t as much biking as we would prefer on this tour, we were very happy to have been on a small group tour, where the experiences were a bit more intimate and interactive. We also learned a lot about the Marlborough region, specifically the different sub-regions, with their different soil and climate characteristics.
 |
| Sailing into Picton |
 |
| Exploring the Vines on Our Tour |
 |
| Marlborough Region |
 |
| Leaving Picton |
The next day we were in Akaroa, where we rented some kayaks and kayaked for about an hour and a half. We also met our friend, Karen. She drove in from Christchurch, which is over an hour and a half away—one way!! It was so lovely to see her, and explore Akaroa together. We spent time looking around, and shopping.
The following day we were in Dunedin, where we participated in a bike tour. This tour had just enough biking, and there were only four of us on it! We biked past some very kiwi landscapes: rolling, verdant hills, with grazing sheep doting them. Then we arrived at our morning tea stop: Victory Beach. We walked about a kilometre to the top of the sand dunes that overlooked the beach. Before heading down, our guides reminded us how dangerous sea lions are (they’ll charge and bite you). As we were about to walk down the sand dunes, the guides looked around and declared that there were no sea lions. After they said this, a man in our group took two steps back ,and then we heard this roar from behind him! It turns out, there was a sea lion, he was just napping, hidden under a bush next to us, and pretty annoyed that we had disturbed him. So we all ran down the sand dune, and turned around to see what he would do next. Thankfully, after saying his piece, he laid back down. Drew, who was behind us taking pictures of flowers, heard us call to him and came out just as the sea lion had simmered down. So, Drew, momentarily forgot the briefing, and took a bunch of great photos, before being called off. After our eventful walk, we finally had our morning tea on the beautiful beach. It was a cooler day, about 10 C, so the hot drinks were very nice! After morning tea, we headed back up the dunes, and slipped past the sea lion without disturbing him. Then we walked back out and did a bit more biking before the tour finished.
Thankfully, the tour was only half a day, so we were able to take in the sights of Dunedin. We saw the deservedly famous railway station, with it’s amazing tile floor. Then, we walked around taking in the sites, had a snack at a pub, found a fabric store, and then headed back to the ship.
 |
| Railway Station |
Our last “stop” in New Zealand before sailing back to Sydney was Dusky, Doubtful, and Milford Sounds. These weren’t stops where we got off, they were scenic cruise destinations. All of the sounds were very beautiful, and quite different. In Dusky Sound, we saw seals, and in Doubtful Sound we saw Dolphins in front of our ship. In Milford Sound we saw the most waterfalls, and the scenary was very dramatic: there are mountains as big as the Rockies touching the ocean at their bases. Our ship has a different propulsion system from many cruise ships, so we did a 360 degree spin in front of one of the waterfalls. What made the day also quite remarkable was the weather. The sounds are some of the wettest places on earth, and we did not have any rain. The visibility was very good, and the sea was very calm. The naturalist on our ship provided very interesting commentary through the sounds, which really enriched the sailing experience.
 |
| Dusky Sound |
 |
| Milford Sound |
 |
| Bye New Zealand! |
After our day in the sounds, we headed out into the Tasman sea for our two day sail home to Sydney.
The cruise was quite amazing, and I loved all of the wildlife and scenery we were able to view from the ship. One night at dinner we saw a pod of at least 50 dolphins swim by, and another day we saw whales breaching in the distance.
We returned home just in time for Christmas with the dogs. On our anniversary, our friend, Courtney, arrived for a visit. We had a great time seeing her again, and we were able to travel with her on weekends when we were off work. One weekend we went to Melbourne together, where we had an amazing Airbnb, and went on a great bike tour. Another weekend, we had the worst Airbnb (ever (complete with leaky roof!), and saw the Jenolan Caves and Blue Mountains. We also took in the New Years Eve fireworks together!
 |
| Our cheese plate that we took on the boat. |
 |
| Courtney! |
As you can see, it truly was a very fast-paced November and December, but it was a lot of fun!
