We enjoyed a fabulous 17 day cruise exploring the islands of New Zealand and Australia. The ship was the Volendam and was a Holland America vessel. The cruise left Auckland on December 20th and we stopped at various ports along the North and South Islands of New Zealand before heading down to Stewart Island. It was certainly a different Christmas for us this year and although we did enjoy it, we did miss family, friends and the snow! Lauren informed me that this would be our last Christmas away. At the end of Christmas day she mentioned that she didn't get her butt off the loungechair all day so she did enjoy it! We then spent 3 days at sea as we crossed the Tasman Sea landing in Tasmania on Jan. 2nd. We had a stop in Melbourne on Jan. 3rd and arrived in Sydney on Jan. 5th, disembarking the following day on Wed. Jan. 6th. It seemed that the entire Holiday was spent eating, lounging, swimming, going to shows and getting ready for the next event. The kids enjoyed meeting new friends and they spent quite a bit of time at Club HAL. We met a great family through one of Cameron's mates (Christopher). We ended up spending quite a bit of time with the Hansen family (Wayne, Kathy, Christopher and Kate). We hired a car with them and another couple (Bronwyn and Pete) on the day we were in Tasmania and drove along the coast enjoying the scenery and a nice lunch along the way. We also spent a day with them on Manly Beach in Sydney which included some swimming/boogie boarding and again, a nice lunch. At the end of the trip they invited us up to their home in Brisbane and you will hear more about that later. All in all, it was a fabulous cruise and after a busy 2 months of travelling through New Zealand it was so nice to not have to drive anywhere, look for accomodations, decide what to cook, etc... The kids didn't want to get off the ship and are already hoping to go on another cruise!
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