Voyager of the Seas Picture Review Dec 2012 Australia & New Zealand Cruise

[Iluvcruising2]

There is the suspension bridge.

[Iluvcruising2]

A view of the bridge.

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On our way back to the visitor center, we took a slight detour to see this Goldmine.

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The walk to the Goldmine was a bit more difficult as there were many steps to climb. Halfway up, there was this beautiful spot.

 

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The outside of the Gold Mine. It was opened that afternoon and we got to go in! There was a volunteer guide there who lent us some hard hats and a couple of torches.

 

How fun, I've never been in a real gold mine.

 

[Iluvcruising2]

The mine was pitch black, narrow and not for the claustrophobic. The objective of going in was to look at cave wetas. This photo wasn’t good but you can see them. We could walk to the end of the cave (about 2 minutes of darkness) before reaching the end. You could then look up and see a cave opening on top.

[Iluvcruising2]

We got back to the visitor centre at about 3:15pm. Went to the indoor exhibition for a bit.

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Another exhibit.

 

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Ok, we went through the exhibits quite quickly, since we had to head back to the city center.

 

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We headed back to the city centre via taxi. Left at about 3:30pm.

To recap, we arrived at Zealandia about 1:45pm. Walked the sanctuary till 3:15pm. Took a quick tour of the exhibition and then left for the city centre. If I remembered correctly, the Zealandia provided complimentary shuttles from the Visitor center to the Botanic Gardens but the next shuttle left after 4pm. So we just took a taxi.

[Iluvcruising2]

On our way to the Te Papa museum.

[wnycruisefam66]

New York, New York! Any cruises out of there? :)

 

This is a link to the map of the Zealandia sanctuary.

 

http://www.visitzealandia.com/plan-your-visit/sanctuary-valley-map/

 

To far from where we live to the port of NY to drive it easily, so we fly to FL. Would love to do a cruise like this someday, so I'm really enjoying your review (& previous review as well!).

[Iluvcruising2]

This was the outside of the Te Papa museum. Admission was free. We arrived at 3:45pm.

[Iluvcruising2]

To far from where we live to the port of NY to drive it easily, so we fly to FL. Would love to do a cruise like this someday, so I'm really enjoying your review (& previous review as well!).

 

Hope you get to come to Asia, Australia and New Zealand some day soon. Do drop by Singapore for a few days too!

[Iluvcruising2]

The museum was very big, I think 6 floors or so. It was rather crowded that day too. Coming from the peace and natural beauty of the Zealandia sanctuary, the place felt a tad overwhelming. J

[Iluvcruising2]

Skeletons, many.

[Iluvcruising2]

A hotbed of seismic activity.

[Iluvcruising2]

Lake Taupo is the water filled crater of a very large volcano, still active.

[Iluvcruising2]

The museum was very educational and definitely worth a visit. However, we were getting tired, after all that walking. Also, we had a few more places to go. So, we only spent about 30 minutes at the museum before heading off to a McDonalds for some food and drink.

[Iluvcruising2]

This was the receipt. The address was Taranaki Street. This place is located at a petrol station, can be seen from the entrance of the museum.

[Iluvcruising2]

After our tea break, we walked to Cuba street. Didn’t take long. We arrived at 4:50pm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba_Street,_Wellington

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Another view of Cuba street.

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We explored Cuba street a bit and went into several shops.

 

Thereafter, our next destination was the cable car station, at Lambton Quay. We walked using a tourist map that my wife had printed out. It took us about 15 minutes to get there.

 

This was the ticketing booth. There was a queue, but the line moved quite fast. Family return ticket cost NZ$15.

 

The time was 5:38pm.

 

Edited December 29, 2012 by Iluvcruising2

[Iluvcruising2]

A rather blur picture of the moving car. The cable cars ran every 10 minutes.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington_Cable_Car

Edited December 29, 2012 by Iluvcruising2

[Iluvcruising2]

The entrance to the Botanic Gardens, once we got off the cable car at the terminal stop at the top of the hill.