Bay of Islands - Kerikeri and Waitangi

It’s the last day of our cruise and we took our first and only Oceania excursion today. Bay of Islands is a tender port so we grabbed a tender with our group just after 9 o’clock and boarded a bus, which took us about 30 minutes away to Kerikeri, which is the northern tip of the north island where settlers first arrived, and the oldest buildings standing remain in New Zealand. There are two buildings of note: the stone store, and the Kemp house. .

From there, we visited Waitangi, which is a historic site. It is where the Mauri chiefs signed an agreement with the British crown for Brits to settle in New Zealand. We had a seventh generation Mauri guide whose Grandfathers from both his paternal and maternal sides were signatories to the treaty. He was deeply knowledgable and fascinating to have as our guide. Understandably, this site is seen by Mauri as where they lost control of their country.

We returned to the port area and had an opportunity to stroll around before taking the tender back to the ship. Our luggage was in our cabin waiting for us and we packed in no time at all. We had yet to use our complimentary spa credits so we we both had manicures in the late afternoon.

Dinner tonight was at the Polo Grill, the steak specialty restaurant. A fitting way to end this cruise.Read more