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Yesterday the ship docked in Sydney Australia. We got off the ship and and caught a cab ride with our friends Jim and Arcadia. We got dropped off at the aquarium. We got a map and started walking along the waterfront and we bumped in to a man named Martin who we met kayaking in Tonga. We walked with him for a while until we came up on a man sitting underneath the tree stretching. The man asked us what country we were from. We told him that we were from the United States. He offered to buy us a cup of coffee he said follow me. March and walked along and we followed the man. His name was Asad. He lead us to a café and ordered us a flat white (coffee with just cream). He told us all about himself which was kind of confusing and hard to understand for me because English was his third language. After this happened he got up and left. Us with Asad We continued on our way. We kept walking along the waterfront until we came in view of the Sydney Harbor Bridge. From underneath th...
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Today the ship docked in Townsville Au, We got off the ship and began walking into town rather than taking the bus. We decided to rent some bikes. Unfortunately there was a misunderstanding and we would have to kill about an hour before we could get the bikes. We decided that it would be best to walk around a bit.  Me with some of the crew as we left the ship. Me outside of the terminal. We walked to a place called the fringe. Unfortunately we got lost and turned around. By the time we got back to the bike place the bikes were ready (sorta). We helped the new business owner Alicia with pumping up tires and we gave her a few tips on the bikes. Then we got directions to a place called Bilibong Sanctuary and started riding.  We rode about ten miles and stopped. We still had around four miles to go. We talked to each other for a minute and decided that neither of us really wanted to go anyway, so we turned around and started back for town. On our way back we stopped f...
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Picton, New Zealand

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Today the ship docked in Picton, which was our only port on the South Island of New Zealand. We had found a place on the internet to rent bikes. We found it with no trouble. We rode over a large bridge then got lost and couldn’t compare our position to the map. Luckily there was a kind man out for a walk who redirected us and told us that the flower my mom had was prepared by a group of ladies who spend weeks making thousands of them. After chatting with him for a few minutes we continued on our way.  My mom with her flower. We rode up and down many mountain bike trails for a long time. It was fun and exciting. Eventually we reached the end of the snout (what the locals call one of the more popular fingers branching off of the island. We decided to go back a different route which had many sharp turns which where difficult because our bikes were the wrong sizes. Eventually we made it back and rode through town for a while.  Our ride on the snout. After that we ...
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Wellington, New Zealand

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Today the ship docked in Wellington, New Zealand. We got off the boat onto a shuttle that was headed for two stops. We got off at the first stop and asked around about bike rentals. There was a bike park on the map as well but we were told that it was just a few trails. We walked to a bike rental place and rented two mountain bikes. They were nice. We rode them around town through the market area and then headed further past the port town. We stayed by the roadside and occasionally checked a map to see where we were. We rode and rode and rode. Finally, we came up to the base a large hill/small mountain. We worked our way all the way up to the top. When we got to the top we stopped and checked the map again. We realized we weren’t really at the top so we rerouted and continued. Then we arrived at a large parking lot where we saw a sign that said pump track. There was a pump track just around the corner which we had fun at for a while.            ...
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Today the ship docked in Toraunga, New Zealand! We had a tour booked for today, but the tour guide never showed up, so we were able to get on another tour with our friends Frank, Philomena, Jan, Hal, Rodger, Wendy, Barbra, and Lisa. The guides name was Natalie, she was very nice. It was a fantastic tour group. Our first stop was the village of Tewhakarewarewatangaoteopetauaawahiao. It is a village built on top of geothermal activity. This means that the Mauri people built there houses over big bubbling hot springs and hot mud pits hundreds of years ago and their descendants still live there today. They also use the springs in their daily lives. They use them to cook and they take baths in some of the hot water in the winter time. They put on a performance while we were there. And we got to try some sweet corn that was cooked in one of the hot pools.     Pictures from the Mauri Village. After that we went to a park with some more hot mud p...
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