Day 27(Feb 17)

After two days at sea, we arrived at Waitangi, Bay of Islands. We did Waitangi Estuary by Kayak excursion. One way kayaking adventure was fun. We saw flying penguins from a distance. We were not very good at kayaking and we were always behind the group. 

After kayaking, we took the ferry to Russel Island, the first permanent European Settlement in New Zealand. We had Fish and Chips. Both fish and fries were fabulous. We visited Russel Museum and Pompallier Mission Print house. We also did a hike up to Flagstaff Hill. It has a stunning view of the bay. Russel is worth of visiting. The town is well organized and maintained. New Zealand is beautiful and the people is very nice. Speaking English there makes things little easier. 

Yesterday, we had gone up to Deck 13 (the top deck) to see stars. The sky was clean but with the lights on the ship, it is hard to see anything. At 10:30 pm, the captain had turned off the lights on the top deck to let us see stars. Once the lights off, the sky was seen with filled stars. The Southern Cross was hanged in the southern sky. It is the first time for us to see it. The Orion was easily identified. Our own Milky Way galaxy was seen as a pale strip cross the sky. Today, we went up to Deck 13 little earlier to see the international space station again. At 10 to 9 o’clock, the space station just was seen flying cross the sky. We also observed the Venus.