While our previous journeys have been exclusively cruises, this one is a combined land and sea adventure.  When we have visited New Zealand on two previous cruises, we wanted to stay longer than the 8 hours in each port that is the norm for cruises.  We have been intrigued by the culture, the people, and the geography and wished for a little more immersion.  On one visit, on a whim, we took a ferry over to a quaint little suburb, called Devonport – so we have rented a house in Devonport, about two blocks from the ferry for the month of February. (in New Zealand we noticed that most people pronounce all “e”s as long “e”s – so one of my first tasks is to see if the town is pronounced “Deevenport” or “Devenport”.) At the end of our stay in Devenport, on March 1, we board Holland America’s Maasdam, for a 35 day cruise across the South Pacific, stopping in Fiji, Tonga, French Polynesia (including as overnight stay in Bora Bora) and Hawaii, arriving in San Diego on April 3.