Tauranga, New Zealand - Feb 9, 2009 - Tauranga, New Zealand

Tauranga lies in the picturesque Bay of Plenty. It's busy port and resort area is a productive agricultural and timber center, as well as a lively tourist attraction. More than 1.5 billion kiwi fruits are exported from here every year. An historic place with lots of sight-seeing and sports-centered activities, Tauranga is also the gateway to one of the South Pacific's finest attractions, Rotorua. Located in the middle of New Zealand's most intense thermal activity, the region sits atop underground water which, superheated by lava, bubbles up all around in geysers, mud pools, or steam bores. Tauranga and the Rotorua area are also rich in native Maori culture. Groups of performing Maoris entertained at the ship terminal as well as several shore excursion venues. After dinner tonight, everyone was off to pack up their bags. We are scheduled to arrive in Auckland early in the morning. Since our flight does not leave until late in the evening, we also have shore excursions scheduled for the day. We'll all meet up at the Auckland airport to being our journey home. By the time we arrive in Auckland, we will have sailed 7,272 miles since leaving Sydney!