Another tender port and once again tender problems. This time with two tenders out of action (there are only four in total) and the actual tendering time was 20 minutes. This meant a long wait. We met in Raffles at 9:00 and Barbara had already got the the tickets. We finally boarded our tender at 10:45.

Rob was playing golf, so the rest of us went off together. The tender took us to Waitangi Wharf near the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. However, we boarded the free shuttle into Paihia. We then strolled around the little town. I've been to the Bay of Islands before, but I don't think we actually looked around the town. There was free wifi at the local library, but so many people were connected it was extremely slow. I tried Facetiming Janet, but it was useless.

After a walk around a craft fair, $2 hot dog from a St John Ambulance stall and a decent cup of coffee, Lin, Barb and I took the shuttle bus to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. There we looked at the Treaty House, Carved Meeting House and War Canoes, we took the tender back to the ship. They had managed to hire a couple of boats from local operators and so things were slightly faster than expected, but we still had to wait quite a while. I hope they get things sorted before Sydney, as we have to tender in for the first few hours, until the ship that's moored in our berth sails away.

Ship left about an hour late for Auckland. Lost all the evening's quizzes. The executive chef told us at the food demonstration early on in the sector, that after day 18 or 19 things would start to get interesting for both passengers and galley crew as most cruises are shorter than that. He wasn't wrong. After yesterday's whitebait fritters, today's oddity was cream of Brussels sprout soup!! I didn't bother.

All in all, another excellent port day with great weather, 26 degrees at one point. Apparently, when another ship was in yesterday, it was wet and horrible.