day 49, Mar 2, at sea, video of Auckland (more later)

Hi everybody. It's been a while since I wrote anything but I know Dad has touched on everything we have been up to.

The fancy party in Auckland for the people on the whole world cruise was spectacular. They bussed us to the convention center-all 550 of us! And man dressed up as Capt. Cook got on the bus and entertained us for the short trip to the center. The entertainment before dinner was fantastic-I hope you can get the sense of it from the pictures and videos. The meal itself was very good but of course it would be hard to improve on what we are offered every night in the Queens Grill!

Hey card players-we have learned a new card game-whist. It's very easy-sort of like spades but the trump changes in every hand and there is no bidding at all and no bad points for getting more than you said you would take. We have only played twice and we have won both times-you get vouchers you can turn in for prizes. You probably need quite a few to get some little thing like a coffee mug. We are going to play this morning at 10 AM which can make it a little tight to get to trivia at 11:30. We can't seem to win at trivia-you wouldn't believe how popular trivia is. It's hard to get a seat and we have had to stand at the bar. Those Brits and Australians really know their trivia and they are super competitive so if we want to win a prize I guess we should stick with whist.

Yesterday we played Liverpool Rummy with Kathy and Bob who run the mariner club thing (they gave us the video camera we are using). It turns out it is not the same as crazy Rummy. There are no jokers and all twos are wild. Also you can buy as much as you want. There are other things a little different also. We will have to try it and see which game you like the best.

We were talking to a lady last night who is very keen on the Canyon Ranch spa and she tried to talk us into getting a wrap (this is not something you eat!) They scrub down your whole body with some exotic stuff, then wrap you up tight in seaweed and aluminum foil and leave you for half an hour. This does not appeal to us and we decided that even if they paid us the $200 it cost we would turn it down!

We enjoyed seeing Ellen and Teddy on TV even though it was very brief. As you probably know we get coffee in our room every morning at 5 AM so we can get to the gym when it opens at 6 AM. We do half an hour of stomach exercises first. Well, since we were going to be up at 2:30 AM to see them on TV we called room service about 10:30 PM the night before and ordered our coffee for 2:15 AM. The room service person sounded rather surprised so dad explained why we were doing this and he burst out laughing and said, "I thought you were going to the gym!" Of coarse we canceled the 5 AM coffee and we did not go to the gym at all that day!

Today the sea is very calm and it looks like we will get some sun. The weather has been a bit disappointing-not much sun but pleasant temperatures.

It will take us four more days to get to Guam which means we will have lots of time to relax. I just canceled our tour in Guam after seeing a description of it on the TV. It sounded like all you do is visit war memorials. The more desirable tour has a huge waiting list so I think we will just go to the beach on our own. We had not arranged for any beach, swim, snorkel trips so I hope this is a good idea.

We have been reading a lot. Dad has been reading Alexander McCall Smith, and I have been reading Jodi Picault, change of heart. It is about religion, morality and capital punishment. I have not been upset yet about her views on religion. Talk to you later