NEW ZEALAND!!

We made it to NZ!! We're in Bay of Islands which is on the North Island. Internet is finally cheap as the exchange rate is in our favor. We are all excited to be off the ship tomorrow. We are arriving in Auckland and a lot of us are going to try to travel together for the next 3 weeks, however none of us has a "plan" per say and it will be interesting coordinating approximately 10 people. Its cooler here today, maybe 60s, but we've had great weather the whole trip. We have had a great time having so many of our friends onboard. 9 of us eat dinner in the formal dining room every night (as in 5 courses). We have a funny waiter and asst. waiter that keep us laughing. Last night was Halloween (since we crossed the international date line and lost October 30th completely). Kristen and I borrowed the guys dress clothes and went as Mormom missionaries. Pretty funny. Not as funny as the Mormons dressed as hula girls complete with coconuts and sparkly eye make-up. Pictures were taken.

We've spent 9 of the last 12 days at sea. Sea days can get long and boring but we try to appreciate the relaxation, food, gym and each other. In Tahiti the ship docked in the city and all 11 of us took a public bus to a nearby beach. It was not the nicest Tahiti-esque beach and the skies were cloudy. We enjoyed the next two islands better. In Moorea, 9 of us went snorkeling and also got to feed sting rays and swim with (3 feet long) sharks. I have a camera that is (was) water proof so we were having a heyday taking pictures of it all, until my camera died and went to digital heaven. I was planning to buy a new one but one of the Mormon boys took it apart, dried it out and apparently has it working again, however I haven't seen him since he called to tell me that in the middle of the night last night. In Bora Bora I went scuba diving with Nate (mormon boy) and two girls we've met on the ship (moving from Hawaii to NZ via cruise ship). We got to swim with sharks 10 feet long and I'm getting the pictures developed right now (from disposable camera). It was my first dive besides getting certified and it was pretty darn cool.

In other news, Kristen and I proudly took home first and second place respectively in the sudoku competition onboard (easiest thing we've ever done). The 11 of us are quite the spectical onboard since everyone else is nearly dead(sparing a few newly weds and over feds) and because the mormons do all the events and meet lots of people.

The Plan, as we know it, for the next three weeks (until Nate, Adam, Cramer, myself and maybe Bryan and Roberta) leave Nov. 23 to cruise to Australia for 15 nights is as follows:

Kristen flies out of Auckland Nov. 4 to Fiji, LA and Kansas.
Kelly and Julie fly out of Auckland back to AK Nov. 4
Adam, Cramer, and Nate (The Mormons) plan to "see and do it all" in NZ but don't have reservations or plans.
Andy and Brianna will stay onboard tomorrow for the following cruise, then spend a month in Australia.
The two girls we met on the ship (moving to NZ) are being "courted" by Bryan and Cramer so I'm assuming Bryan, his travelmate Roberta and the 2 girls will align themselves with the Mormons.
I'm going to go with the big group and see what happens, just for kicks and giggles.
Two other RCT friends, Vinnie and Pierre are already in NZ and are supposed to meet us at the pier tomorrow and they may want to travel with us as well. Vinnie supposedly bought a van.

So basically I'm just going to follow along and let others make the decisions, confident in their ability to make fun happen and excited to not have to be in charge of logistics. Hopefully making the trip more economical as well. I'm hoping to skydive at some point and do some hiking.

Well I should be able to update this wonderfully entertaining blog more often now!