Last Excursion :(

Today was the last excursion stop of the cruise. We stopped in Tauranga. In order to bring us full circle on the trip, it was raining in the morning. We walked into town, did a little shopping and then came back to the boat for our final excursion. It was a trip to Longridge Fun Park. When we got there, we were shuttled from the bus to a truck with seating in the bed and a trailer with seating. We proceeded to go into a kiwi farm and learn about kiwi's. The kiwi branches will grow 4 feet a day. Dang, that is like kudzu in Georgia! They are developing another kiwi called golden kiwi. It is supposed to be sweeter and is golden colored inside. Sadly, all those are going to China for now, but perhaps in a couple of years, we might see them in the US. After a few more stops with information about trees we got to the fun part ... a jet boat ride. We broke into two groups and got into two jet boats. The trip was about 7 1/2 kilometers up the river. The boats were fast and the driver was fantastic. We were sluicing up the narrow river at about 40 MPH and would do some fast 360 degree turns. It was screaming fun and I wish we could have done it again. The only downside was the driver asked if we wanted to do the turns faster and the old people in the back of the boat said no. What the hell did they think was gonna happen on a jet boat??? Oh well, we had fun nonetheless. So, we are back on board the Statendam and soon we will be taking off for a day at sea before arriving in Auckland and that my friends will be the end of the cruise. Bitter sweet.