Jan 27 – arrived in Tauranga at 7am. This our first day of rain and it rained pretty hard most of the day. We had a tour booked but decided to cancel due to the rain.  We actually tried to go out but turned back. Nancy went back out later to do some shopping.  We spent the rest of the day relaxing around the ship. We went to the Persian Garden where we relaxed on heated recliners and used some of the other spa amenities and had a massage.

The tour we skipped today was one we were looking forward to. It included a tour of Hobbiton, the set where The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and The Hobbit film trilogy were filmed. My brother Jeff was a big fan of those books so he and Julie decided to go on the tour despite the weather. They said it was well worth it. I included some of their pictures below.

Later at the Martini Bar. The bartender had some serious skills! One martini flight (12 glasses) coming right up! I have it on video but it takes too much storage space.

Pics from Hobbiton (thanks Jeff!)