We spent a delightful 10 days with Jim's brother Philip and family in Samford, Brisbane over Christmas and New Year. Jim and Philip enjoyed 'watching' the cricket whilst Penny braved the Boxing Day sales at Chermside Shopping Centre.
We then moved on to our first house-sit at Brookfield in a beautiful modern home on seven acres, with two very friendly dogs: Banjo, a five-year-old Blue Heeler and Noodle, a five-month-old Labradoodle. Morning walks were a real challenge with these two, but even more challenging were the 5am wake-up calls - one or both of them barking to be let out. In fact, on our final morning we were woken at 4am and had to let them out by torchlight!!
Noodle
Banjo
In between walking and feeding the dogs and maintaining the house and gardens, we managed a few day trips to the Gold Coast, and purchased a delightful apartment at Benowa, within the Royal Pines precinct. We settle mid-February.
One of our two travelling companions, Rachel the Raccoon.
And the other, Patty the Patagonian Penguin
Yet more challenges awaited us. At the Air New Zealand terminal, we sped through Customs and then lined up for the obligatory carry-on baggage check. Penny's backpack went through without a hitch, but Jim's backpack was called back twice! Because we had packed our bags so many weeks ago, we had forgotten that his backpack contained an Aeroguard spray - and a can of shaving cream. Oh dear...
We have stayed in Auckland several times, but this time chose to stay at the Sky City Hotel which houses Auckland's casino and is centrally located. In fact, Sky City is really a city within a city with its multiple buildings, accommodation and restaurants. We arrived by shuttle from the airport to face a throng of hundreds around the main entrance. It was Chinese New Year and the foyer (which was also full of revellers) was decorated Chinese-style. We finally made it up to our room and once settled, headed to the casino for a refreshing drink and dinner, and watched with interest the winners and losers at the roulette tables.
One of the casino bars
On the casino floor in the roulette section
Penny with friend during Lunar New Year at the casino
Sky Tower - the top restaurant is on the 53rd floor!
We spent a couple of hours at Kelly Tarlton's Sea Life Aquarium. New Zealand born Tarlton was a pioneer in underwater exploration and a successful tourism entrepreneur. He adapted his passion for scuba diving into a successful career as an explorer of shipwrecks (including The Tasmania) and maritime construction engineer. He opened the formerly known Underwater World in 1985 and tragically died that same year at the age of 47 - his excessive workload could have caused the heart attack that killed him.
The aquarium showcases much about the Antarctic including a substantial flock of both King and Gentoo penguins and a replica of Captain Robert Falcon Scott's Antarctic Hut. We also walked through the see-through shark and stingray exhibit and saw hundreds of other species of fish, crabs, crayfish and seahorses.
One of Scott's rooms
The Zoology room containing various specimens and the skeleton of a King Penguin
Real live King Penguins
Gentoo Penguins
These enormous crayfish are around 60cm long. We watched them being handfed with mussels - they suck the mussel right out of the shell. In winter they can go for weeks without food; in summer it can be up to four times a day.
Baby jellyfish
Jim beneath a stingray
Baby stingray - about 30cm long
There is even a tuatara - these are the only surviving members of the order Spenodontia that lived during the age of the dinosaurs some 200 million years ago.
On Tuesday night we celebrated at Gusto at the Grand, a wonderful Italian restaurant within the Sky City precinct. And the celebration? 32 years since the night we first met!
When our waiter asked if it was a special occasion we told her, and she presented us with this for dessert.
On Thursday we board Celebrity Eclipse for our 12-night cruise around New Zealand and back to Sydney. This will be our first cruise in over three years, and we are so looking forward to it!
