New Zealand/French Polynesian Islands



 Thursday, March 6, 2025

One more wake up! Finally it’s a day away. A trip of a lifetime! It has been an exceptionally snowy, cold winter. Our mantra has been: Can we make it to March? 

This year we decided to go to New Zealand. At first, we thought let’s do Australia and New Zealand since they’re so close together and it’s so far from home. Then we looked and saw that the French Polynesian Islands are very close as well, in fact, they are on the way home. Who doesn’t have Bora Bora on their bucket list? Since New Zealand is on the other side of the world, March will be like our September in New Zealand. It’s always summer in the French Polynesian Islands. Doug and Nely Wechsler  happened to be here one day and I asked them, “What do you know about the French Polynesian Islands?” Doug said “Oh Nely and I are going with some friends to New Zealand and then taking a cruise there next March.”

 That got our wheels turning. Could we? Should we? Why not? Out came the iPads! Doug had an itinerary from a Travel Agent. The Castle’s son Mike had done his Jr year abroad studying in Australia. He had been to New Zealand and looked at the itinerary and thought wow this hits all the best, must see spots. Then we called Arri, who had helped us out last year when our tickets to France were canceled by a ground strike at Lufthansa 2 days before we were to leave. She did an amazing job of putting together what appears to be a fantastic road trip around both the North and South Islands of New Zealand. .

This year’s change of plan is that Susie isn’t coming. She hasn’t been feeling well and unfortunately, had to pass on the trip. Jeff is going to join us in New Zealand, then fly with us to Tahiti and then go home. We will meet Doug and Nely in Tahiti and take the cruise with them. We will miss Susie terribly and FaceTime her and send pictures throughout the whole trip. Jeff is equal to the fun of three, let alone two. (Self proclaimed)

Here is one of the many places on our list to see. I hope we find most of our list. These are Mount Cook.





Here are the Polynesian Islands  and the ship’s itinerary. It’s a Windstar Cruise. They have smaller ships so they can get in and out of small islands. 






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