Fjordlands, NZ

During our 13 day cruises through New Zealand (I am doing three in a row right now), we have one day of Scenic Cruising through the Fjordlands National Park.

The Fjordland's are described as the eight wonder of the world. The scenery is just amazing with mountains, wildlife and beautfiful waterfalls.

Each time we cruise through Milford Sounds (which is the most famous and gave the park it's name), Dusky Sound to Breaksea and Thompson to Doubtful Sound.

This picture was taken from the back of the ship leaving Milford Sound, the view was just breathtaking.

I'm glad I still have two more cruises to take it all in!

Wining and Dining in Christchurch, NZ

I had e-mailed my friend Marcus whom I had worked with at Deerhurst about 6 years ago whom I remembered had been on this side of the world for the last year or so. It turned out that he has been managing a gourmet pizza bar for the last 13 months in Christchurch, New Zealand. After e-mailing back and forward, we arranged to hang out for the afternoon while I was docked in Lyttleton (about 20 minutes from Christchurch).

I had requested the afternoon off and my supervisor gave me about 5 hours to have in the afternoon. Marcus met me at the information center in Lyttleton and he had borrowed a car from his roommate for us to use for the afternoon. It was awesome to see him again after about 3 years of not hanging out!

Our first stop was to his restaurant, Cocopelli’s , which is a nice patio and bar restaurant. We had a quick pint of a local beer and then off to Waipara Wine Country. Waipara is one of New Zealand’s newest and rapidly growing wine areas. They specialize in white wines, especially Riesling so as you can imagine I was in heaven! The wineries in Waipara are nestled in a valley surrounded by the Teviotdale hills and open to warm winds making it ideal growing conditions. Waipara was located about 1 hour away from where we docked.

Our first stop was Mut Hut Winery to which we did a speed tasting of about 10 different wines. The neat thing about this winery was they had us taste wines that were made with grapes from Waipara and then a wine made with the same varietal but grown in Marlboro. It was really neat to see the difference in the wines just from the different regions. This winery was a bit larger and had a small café overlooking the vineyard.

The next stop was Torlesse Winery which was a small quaint winery. We did a tasting of about 5 different white wines, a wine similar to icewine (which they called Sticky Riesling) and two different sparkling wine coolers. Wine coolers are not as popular as in Canada and this is one of the only wineries that make them. I was surprised at how nice they actually were and had to get a few “Savvy Pops” to bring back to the ship. I also couldn’t leave without purchasing a bottle of Riesling which I fell in love with. I considered sending a case home but I think my mom would finish them off before I got home. :)

By the time we finished with these two wineries we both were ready for a bite and we were getting short for time so we heading back to Marcus’ restaurant for a pizza. We had one of the best pizza’s I have ever had with chicken, sundried tomato, brie, spring onions, sweet chili sauce and roasted pistachio sour cream. Pure heaven!

By that time, I had to get back to work so we rushed me back to the bus station to get back onboard but what an amazing afternoon, catching up with a old friend, great wine and food.

Happy Aussie Day!

Today, we celebrated Australia day onboard complete with huge bbq on the open deck and karoke party for the guests. The Australian's celebrate just as much as we do back home for Canada Day wearing their nation's colours and flag proudly.

Here I am infront of the display of cakes in the lobby with my little flag and koala.

Champagne Bay, Vanuata

My favourite beach so far has been Champagne Bay in Vanuata.

A group of about 8 of the Purser's went ashore for a few hours. We walked about 15 minutes away from the main beach and found a beautiful beach with a bar and not a single passanger. It truely felt like being on vacation.

This is the moment that you think, this is the life!

Better late than never

I have been to write since I joined my new job but haven't had the chance to yet. I thought this would be nice for family and friends to see what I have been doing and where I have been travelling to with my job on the Sun Princess with Princess Cruise Lines.



As most know, I joined in December for my first contract which will last until June 21st, 2010. The Ship is Australian based with most of our passangers being Australia, US, Canadian and a few other countries. We have over 2000 + passangers when sailing full (which has been since I have joined)



My job is called Assistant Jr Purser which has many roles but as this is my first contract, I work at the Passenger Services Desk assisting guests with currency exchange, accounts, general information, etc. We have split shifts each day which allows us to have time off in the ports which is awesome because I have seen some amazing spots so far.



With this job we are able to use most of the guest areas like the gym, dining areas, theaters and shops as long as we are in our Officer uniforms. We have a Office Mess where we eat in the staff area and are able to order off of the same menu as the passengers. The rooms are shared with one other person (bunk bed style) I was very lucky to have had a cabin to myself the first month on board and now I am sharing with a girl I work with on the Desk. We have windows in the room which is nice, a desk and sitting area. Life isn't that bad when we have someone clean our room for us and cook / serve our meals to us!



The friends I have met so far are just amazing, it is really neat to work with people from all over the world. People are always coming and leaving but it's neat to meet so many people.

This definitely has been so far the best oppourtunity for me to travel the world (for free!) and learn a whole new aspect of Hospitality I could never imagine.