Stitching Cruise - Sydney to Wellington

What an amazing two weeks! I am now home after a wonderful time away with Needlework Cruises. It was such a special treat to be invited to teach on this cruise. Fiona and I met up with lots of luggage at the International Terminal to board. We left on 13 February on Voyager of the Seas. Hubby took some lovely pictures of this very large ship. Makes the Harbour bridge look little!

Here is a photo I took once on board. The whole trip was great fun and we were mostly very fortunate with the weather and the seas. There was some "motion in the ocean" as described by the captain from Milford Sound to Hobart. For the rest of the time it was lovely and flat!

 One of the things that made this trip such fun were the wonderful friendships we have made. I must admit there are lots of photos of the lovely ladies we met and lots of photos of us stitching, shopping and eating! We did still teach for 5 days and those were busy days but we certainly made the most of all the other time available to us.

 Here are some of us (we shared a table at dinner too) at the welcome function for the Needlework part of the cruise.

 Just a few photos of the ladies stitching and Fiona teaching on one of the class days.

 The food was very good on this cruise and it was so hard to eat less!!! This lemon meringue tart was delicious.

 Our first stop was in Auckland and some of us went to an amazing embroidery and wool shop called The Ribbon Rose. It was a beautiful, inviting shop and well worth a visit if you are in Auckland. There were gorgeous displays everywhere and a huge range of threads, wool, books and patterns/kits.

 The owner and staff were so lovely and even offered us a coffee. I did manage to spend a bit here!

 We then headed to Taurunga and Fiona and I did an excursion to Rotorua. The first stop was Kiwi 360 where they grow kiwi fruit.

 We thought the BIG kiwi fruit was worth standing in front for fun! Here is Daisy lounging in front of it.

 Can't go to Rotorua without seeing the amazing hot springs.

 This is the Rotorua Museum. We didn't have time to visit it but the building is gorgeous.

 We then headed to Rainbow Springs. In this pool you can see the trout swimming, if you look carefully.

 We also visited another lovely patchwork shop, called Cottage Flair. Lots to see and buy at this shop.

 Here is another selection of desserts!

 We then visited Napier in the afternoon. It was nice to see the Art Deco buildings and to have a coffee in town.

 Here we are again...this time on Deck 14, enjoying some stitching time.

 Our next stop was Wellington and we headed to Nancy's shop. This was another gorgeous shop. Lovely fabrics, wool and patterns here too.

 We then walked back to the ship and had a drink and some nachos (we really didn't need any food but it was very good).

We were very blessed with lovely warm weather in all these ports. I packed my warmer things but didn't need them at all!