Life on a ship for 3 days...

Lots of eating and drinking when all you have to do all day is to eat and drink! Thank goodness there's a gym and amazing views of the Fiordlands.

First off, Happy Birthday to my amazing daughter, Danielle! Lately, I call her coach! Both her hurdlers (male and female) came in 3rd today in their first Bay Area invitational! Go Berkeley High!

So much, and so little has happened during three days at sea.

We've had memorable dinners, fun times playing games, sleepy afternoons, deep dives into amazing native animals, sweltering heat, cold mornings, and colder afternoons. When I least expect it, things change.

The first two days at sea were a bit of ying and yang. After one day of decadence, we, I mean I, have reconsidered decadent! I need to un-find the 24-hour restaurant with amazing views, a specialty juice bar, foods from around the world every evening, and a devine coffee bar! What the heck! Our mighty group of 20 is in the best shape, the youngest, healthiest, and happiest on board. We are beyond blessed to be living where we do! One caveat, we have a group of 200+ "Runners With Drinking Problems" on our ship, and they look like they're having a hell of a time!

The Fiordlands National Park is amazing. I have never seen anything like it! After two rocky days crossing the sea from Australia to New Zealand, we made a beautiful tour through 3 of the Fiordlands. This enormous park is protected and basically uninhabited (except one). My pictures don't do this lush forested area justice. We were up quite early to see these wonders, and it was quite cold--to say the least!

James got to see the dolphins (boo, I didn't!), and we got to spend an entire lunch watching the magnificent Albatross fly right next to our ship. These particular birds fascinated us! They have the largest wingspan of any bird, 8-11 feet! They resemble a large seagull with a sharp beak and beautiful, haunting dark eyes. They stay at sea for +80% of their life, they don't flap their wings, they only stop on land in particular areas in New Zealand to have their babies, they live to be 60+ years of age, and they mate for life!

We ended the day with a fabulous meal at the specialty steak house where I had New Zealand lamb chops, of course!

Tomorrow, we're off the ship for a much needed land day to explore the town of Dundidin.Read more